Demon From The Rain
by Kodan KooriOni
Summary: "A human? You've got to be kidding me." A demon who never looked twice at a human before finds himself being captivated by a certain red-head. More summary inside, GaaraXOC, Yaoi boyXboy, may turn more mature in the future.
1. Chapter 1

Full story name: Demon from the Rain

AN:

**EDIT: I heavily re-did some parts of this chapter; it needed a little touching up. Mostly the beginning, it had to be rewritten. I hope you like :D.**

This will be my first story on this site. I haven't written in a few years, so please feel free to correct any rusty mistakes! Little things with grammar might come up, since grammar hasn't ever really been my strength. By I usually type differently that I talk, especially when representing characters, so you never know.

Story summary: I'd say I do a fairly good job of keeping Naruto characters from going OOC. I usually dislike how people portray Gaara in writing; I hope I can do better myself. If you like yaoi, complicated plot (well, depends on what you call complicated…at least not mega boring), demons/supernatural stuff, and humor (along with the possible raunchy joke thrown in there) then this will be the story for you! Try to keep an open mind on the OC pairing, I usually don't like any OCXNarutocharacter pairings, but I think my character fits into the anime a little bit more being a demon. (And its yaoi! 8D usually OC pairings are all het.). Some other pairings in the future might be ones like ShikaTema, and many minor Kohona character pairings. Since this is set up mostly in Suna, though, it's yet to be seen if they will come up much. I think my OC is going to end up being seme ;D. This should be a hopefully humorous non-depressing story! 333

Once again, feedback is appreciated! I hope you enjoy the story! 8D I've got to about chapter 5/6 planned. I should have more planned soon, but I'll send out the call when plot ideas are open for consideration!

Behold, all, Chappy 1!

Chapter 1

The wind and sand whipped around a figure trudging through the desert, the hooded cloak on the body bellowing out straight behind the figure, shrinking away from the furious howling wind. One arm was holding the front of the cloak together with another keeping the hood pulled down to conceal the being's face from the stinging sand.

'_Great idea, walk out into the vicious sandstorm from your nice, safe cave—nothing bad will happen, it's not like the sand will feel like little knives on your face or anything!'_ the figure scolded itself, leaning deeply into the wind to keep him from flying back from its intense power. The boy in this predicament had the intention of traveling to the Sand village in an attempt to start a new life. Obviously, the travel from the Rain village to Suna has not gone as well as planned. Giving up the hopeless fight against the wind, the boy sunk down to his knees and flattened his body against the sand dune he previously was trying to scale. He carefully tucked his bare arms under his cloak—his only shield from the stinging sand—to wait out the storm…

A pair of muffled voices arose in the darkness.

'_..-at is that?'_

'_I think it's a person!'_

There was a soft sort of shuffling sound–determinedly footsteps in the sand. The sound grew louder.

'_Is it alive?'_

'_I don't know…poke 'em with something."_

Jab. Jab.

"_This guy isn't moving, I think he's dead."_

"_Well, you don't exactly survive a sandstorm like the one from last night, idiot! If the sand doesn't kill you, dehydration from baking in the sun all day will."_

The shadows of two young boys, both adorned in Suna attire and ninja headbands, were being cast over a figure laying down front-first in the sand. A larger, older man was advancing towards the two chattering boys, but stopped a few feet off, peering at the lump on the ground with curious eyes. The man also had on the usual Suna-ninja garb but with an added jonin-flak-jacket.

The voices speaking had slowly become clear. A pair of icy-blue eyes cracked open, and were greeted with the fuzzy image of dark shadow-casted desert sand. The image grew crisp as consciousness returned. A gruff voice, much deeper than the previous two now spoke clearly, "What are you kids doing? And what is that?"

The figure, which appeared to be a human, was covered in a thin layer of sand–almost like snow on a statue. Most of the sand piled up at one side of the body and spilled over onto the person's back. One arm was jutting out from underneath a sort of hooded cloak that had no sleeves. Its face was entirely obscured by the hood, but it could be assumed that the body was that of a male.

One of the younger voices responded, "It's a dead person. I don't think he could be from our village, 'cause no Suna ninja would be stupid enough to die in the desert."

Apparently, the now conscious boy in the sand had heard enough from the young ninja. Instantly after the latest comment, he jerked up his head and snarled at the other boys, his eyes glinting in the shadow created by his hood as he snapped, "I'm not dead you brats!"

The two boys jumped back with screams at the sudden movement–between them, they got at least three feet of air off the ground. One screeched in surprise, "_It's alive!_ Oh Kami, run for your life!"

Before they could dart off, the large man's arms shot out and grabbed them both. He spoke in his (apparently natural) loud and assertive voice, "Hold it you two, no one is going anywhere!" The man firmly planted the pair of eccentric kids on the ground, giving them a stern 'don't move' look. He then held out a hand to the other boy who was still lying in the sand. "I apologize for my student's behavior; they just recently became genin. Where are you headed to?"

The boy on the sand looked for a moment at the man's hand, carefully hiding the disgust in his foggy eyes, _'Ugh, humans. I could refuse, but I guess I'm not here to make enemies…'_ He grudgingly took the man's hand to be helped up, grunting a little as he stood. The pile of sand on his back rustled as it slid off his cloaked back. He wobbled slightly as he stood, most likely from dehydration and from just recently awaking, but he still went on regardless to dust off the front of his body from sand.

The mysterious boy's steely-blue eyes pierced from the shadow casted by his hood so brightly in contrast that they almost appeared to be glowing. This made his appearance fairly menacing, so the two genin's previous reaction wasn't too unreasonable. His said unnerving eyes soon became squinted as the glaring desert light shone directly into them. The sun beat down on all the beings in this unforgiving wasteland, and then reflected right into his eyes off the bright sand. He slowly looked up to see the sky. It was now bright blue and cloudless, quite the opposite from the whipping brown desert sand that blotted out the sun as he last remembered it.

He gradually became aware of a pain in his left arm –the one that had been sticking out from his cloak. He lifted his arm in front of him and glanced down. It was completely covered in bright-red-already-peeling sunburn. Great. Just great. His eyes squinted in annoyance now as he tenderly touched the burnt skin on his arm. The genin snickered at this unfortunate display; their fear of him obviously had left them.

After sending the coldest glare he could muster at the moment to the two genin, his attention turned back to their jonin-leader. The man had been politely waiting while the boy was collecting himself…or, really, just wasting the poor man's time. Obviously he did not care whose time was wasted—unless it was his own.

He finally replied to the man after the drawn on delay, "I was actually headed to your village. I assume from your headbands you're residents of Suna. If it wouldn't be too much trouble, would you mind if I travel back with you?"

The jonin nodded, "Of course, we are just headed back from a mission," noticing the sunburn he added, "We can get that taken care of when we get back to the village. Now, come on, everyone."

He was surprised they had not asked how he survived.

The group started walking back to the village, which wasn't more than a 20 minute walk away. Soon after they started walking the man began to talk, "For future reference, what is your name?"

"Karasu. Pleased to meet you. And you are?" His response was quick and formal, almost so much so that it nearly sounded rehearsed.

The jonin looked back at the boy, Karasu, apparently pondering something before looking forward again, responding, "Isago. Pleased to meet you, as well."

The two genin babbled and giggled behind Karasu and the jonin as they walked. The man looked to be about in his thirties, with a very sharp angular face, and the usual Suna jonin attire—fully covering clothing, turban, armor, vest and a headband. Karasu was studying him carefully, walking about a foot behind the man and slightly to his right, keeping his hood up and his arms inside his cloak to avoid to beating sun.

Isago suddenly spoke again, facing ahead still without looking back to speak, "So, how old are you? I apologize for any offense, but you don't look to be much older than my genin; that's not to say anything about how you handle yourself compared to them." A duet of whines was heard behind them from the genin.

'_Yeah, you damn brats. At least this human isn't half bad.'_ Karasu smirked as the genin complained. The jonin waited a moment for a response before he turned his head to look at the tow-along behind him. Instantaneously, Karasu's face completely changed to a humorous, kind smile—before Isago could notice that he had done anything but—and he laughed and lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head through his cloak. "I'm only 13. I know I don't act like it."

Isago obviously didn't suspect a thing as he continued, "By looking at you that is what I would have guessed. What's someone your age doing out here alone?" He was careful not to ask about parents; not knowing anything about this boy, that could be a sensitive subject.

'_Well, I guess I won't entirely lie to the guy.'_

"I'm here to start off fresh, and I always kind of liked the desert. Though, I don't like it as much anymore after the number it did on me last night!" He let out a laugh, lacing his fingers together with his hands on the back of his head, wincing slightly as his seared skin stung sharply. His laugh sounded amazingly genuine and soft despite the fact he was faking through his teeth. Cracking jokes and convincingly acting nice is a great way to get people to trust you. He wasn't exactly planning to deceive this man, but acting gloomy and non-sociable was not the way to go in his situation.

He continued after a short pause, "…I came here originally from the rain village."

Isago didn't press how—when living so far from the sand or any desert—Karasu might have known that he was particular to deserts, or why he would act as if he had been in one before. At the same time though, he seemed as if he had never had a lick of experience in desert travel, as his current condition had shown. Isago brushed off his thoughts, chuckling slightly at the boy's earlier joke. "Well, I hope you enjoy your time here in the Sand village. If you are planning to become a citizen or stay here for any great amount of time, you will have to see the Kazekage. I'm not sure how he will take someone from another village wanting to stay here, though."

Karasu scratched the side of his face, thinking carefully, his other arm dropping down from the back of his head. Isago noticed this, commenting, "Perhaps if he does not go for the idea of letting you live in the village, you can offer to work missions with no pay. Just as a last resort, it could save you from being kicked out of the village for, perhaps, suspicion of assassination."

'_Oh great, would that suck._' Karasu made himself appear to consider this for a moment before flashing a big smile, "Thanks for the tip, Isago. I understand I might need to get on his good side. I didn't really consider if the Kazekage would be welcoming or not when I planned to come here. Bad move on my part, I guess."

Isago chuckled, finding the unusually friendly and polite atmosphere around Karasu hard to not enjoy. Most people in Suna are crabby, have no sense of humor, and have a huge log up their ass. He couldn't remember the last time he heard a joke in this village. Isago realized that usually he is one of those people, but the break from that attitude by talking with Karasu was proving rather nice. Conveniently for him, he could enjoy this niceness honestly, since he had no clue it was all a façade.

Even though Karasu in reality was faking his niceness, he did it so well he still seemed pleasant. He could tell as the ninja's demeanor relaxed. _'I guess I forgot how well I can fake my attitude. I guess I have to learn to be nice to humans though, especially if I'm going to try and live around them.'_ He internally sighed.

Isago gave Karasu a friendly pat on the shoulder—who used all his might to suppress a squirm—before pointing ahead of them, speaking with a kind lightness in his gruff voice, "The gates to the Sand are right up there on the horizon. How about I escort you to the Kazekage office? I might be able to help you sway the 'Kage's decision on letting you stay. And, you know, would you possibly like to work some missions with my team and I? We have been short a member ever since a student in these kids' class was unexpectedly held back just before teams were made. I wouldn't mind someone intelligent to talk to on missions instead of being stuck with these two dorks."

'_How lucky! Being nice to this guy got me an easy pass into the village. I was worried I'd have to go someplace else to start off. Doing missions with his group won't be half bad if I can avoid talking to those stupid kids.' _Karasu looked up at the man, laughing and smiling widely, "Of course, that would be great! I'm sure glad I met you all, I could have gotten kicked out of here otherwise."

'_Heh, something mostly honest for once.'_

Behind him, he could hear the boy with the short brown hair mumbling something to his teammate. This kid was obviously the more rowdy of the two. Karasu eves dropped on the end of the boy's conversation, catching, "-_expects us to work with this guy? We don't need some goodie-two-shoes telling us what to do. We will play nice for now, but let's keep our eyes on this kid!"_ Apparently Isago has learned to tune the boys out entirely, because he showed nothing to indicate he even heard them making noise. Karasu felt his eye twitch with the effort of not turning his head to glare at the kids. As a little genin, he shouldn't have been able to hear the dork's harsh, quiet whispers.

'_These shits better not ruin their Sensei's nice invitation to let me into their team. I'm more than set if I already have a team to work with.'_ Pushing the brats to the back of his mind, he focused on the large sandstone entrance looming in front of him.

The four entered the village gates. Karasu noticed that unlike Kohona, there is still no one stationed at the entrance of village to perhaps question who comes in, so he easily passed in as a tagalong. But even without someone to officially accuse as to whom he was, Karasu instantly noticed the looks and suspicious aura of all of the villagers, many of them openly sending him glares, and some women pulling their children closer to themselves and hurrying along.

'_Well, looks like this place doesn't get many visitors often who look like me…or, hardly any visitors at all.'_ Karasu quietly thought to himself, careful not to return to any of the villager's glares, and looked ahead to search the skyline for the building they were headed to. Karasu noticed that some of the looks were being sent at Isago too, and the two genin behind them had stopped bickering and yapping and were looking uncomfortable. _'What a village to be made so unhappy by a simple stranger. Stupid people.'_

A stare feeling ten—a hundred even—times more intense and murderous than any of the others crackled in the Rain ninja's senses. His attention was whipped to the owner of this look. The feeling was so amazingly menacing that the sender-o-la-glare could actually be a real threat. He locked eyes with the source of this feeling of murder. In the opposite lane of the street they were traveling on, a shock of bright red hair framed a pale face and two light green eyes, which were enhanced by raccoon-like markings. Those eyes were glaring almost right through him. A…boy? He was expecting a big burly scary looking guy, maybe some super suspicious secret ninja man, or at _least_ a normal _jonin_, but a kid?

Karasu's mouth hung open just slightly, his eyes not moving but his head turning to follow those aqua pits until they passed his group. He almost stumbled and fell on his face while walking with his attention so fixed on nothing but those eyes. Karasu felt the murderous aura drift further away from him as they walked in opposite directions. He blinked a few times, sliding his hand into his hood to rub the side of his head and try and get a hold of himself. _'What is wrong with me? Kami, I'm finally going crazy…'_

Karasu noticed now that during the time the red-head was there, the attention of the populous was entirely shifted to the boy and the two others with him, instead of on himself. He could feel the fear coming off of all of the people, and the two genin—who now trailed even closer to their jonin leader—both looked particularly horrified, even more so than the other villagers. All of the people who the red-head must have previously passed on the street had an air of fear about them, and no longer seemed to notice or be interested in the group. Strangely, he was actually interested in this human. He spoke softly to Isago, "Who was that red-head with the blonde and the guy in the freaky one-sie suit?...Everyone who he's passed by on the street seems petrified. His stare to me was absolutely murderous."

Isago was quiet for a moment before answering, also speaking softly, and his voice sounding even more gruff husky in the low tone, "That was Gaara of the Sand and his two siblings, Temari and Kankuro. They must be going on a mission since they are heading back towards the gates where we came from. It's not a good thing that he gave you that look. You must—and I mean _must—_stay away from him. You could be on his kill list now." The jonin didn't sound like he was joking.

"Kill list? What did I do to him?" There was a slight pause; Karasu cocked his head slightly to the side in thought as he waited for Isago's reply. _'Gaara…? Something seems strange about that boy. I don't understand why I suddenly got so stunned by him. Something seemed oddly familiar about him too…I must still be dehydrated from being out in the desert for so many days...'_

"You didn't have to do anything to him; he might just not like you. Keep away, really. We don't need any more deaths by his hands in our village. Regardless, we are here. We can go in and speak to the Kazekage after I give my report. Boys, go home for today." Isago spoke up when he addressed the genin. Karasu looked up from his thoughts when Isago said that they were at their destination. His eyes scanned a large round building in front of them. He assumed that this must be the Kazekage business place with maybe living quarters somewhere in there. The two genin responded with a quick, "Hai!" and leaped off together—presumably towards the residential area of the village.

The workers in the building gave quite a few looks but said nothing seeing as Karasu was with Isago, who they apparently knew. After scaling a few flights of stairs and floors, they made it to the Kazekage's office room. Karasu looked slightly unsure, stepping back a little as Isago spoke to the two guards who sent cold glances over to him. One of the men stepped into the room, and there was a silent wait.

'_Going to talk to this Kazekage with a hood on might be rather suspicious…plus, I'm inside anyways…' _Karasu lifted his hands up and slipped his hood off his head. His hair was slightly ruffled from having the hood on for almost a day in the hot weather, so he shook his head side to side to hopefully even it out some. The movement caused Isago to look back, whose face turned to that of surprise to actually see the boy's hair. It was a very unusual dusty grey-blue color that had an almost feathery texture. The edges of the hair flared out slightly at the sides of his head, and rather long bangs invaded his eyes. Before this, Isago never noticed the strange color or texture of his hair since it was casted in shadow and covered.

Trying not to stare, the jonin looked away quickly. Karasu had continued to fuss about with his hair when the man from before stepped back out and nodded to Isago, who then in turn motioned for Karasu to follow as he entered the dim room. The guards cold eyes burned into the back of Karasu's head as they followed in last, shutting the door behind them. Karasu kept a straight face and looked forward despite their stares. He observed the room, uncomfortable with being locked in a room with so many unfamiliar ninja.

The room was dimly lit by oil lamps. On top of the two guards behind him, there were two political-looking ninja sitting on either side of a short pedestal where a man—no doubt the Kazekage—was kneeled on the seat between them. Two elite ninja stood in front of the former couple of ninja. A vertical hanging blind arrangement shielded the two political ninja and the Kazekage from view. _'That makes for 7 ninja, not including Isago. Kami, what a performance this is! How _incredibly_ secretive and formal—like that little paper curtain-shit is going to help anything._'

Not wanting to offend this Kazekage and his insane formalities, Karasu followed Isago's lead as he kneeled respectfully on the tami mat and bowed his head as he addressed the Kazekage. "Kazekage-sama. I found this boy in the desert when returning from my mission assigned earlier today. His name is Karasu; he is from the Rain village, 13 years old, and has left his home village with no intention of returning. He wishes to live here in Suna for a fresh start on life. If I may suggest, my team has been short a member since it was formed. I think his being the same age and ability-level of my students would make him a good addition to complete my group."

There was no movement or reaction from the Kazekage for a few moments before he replied, "And how are we to be sure he is not on a mission to infiltrate our village for information, or to assassinate me?"

'_Oh please, like a 13 year old boy is going to do anything to you, crazy bat._' Karasu suppressed his urge to shake his head in shame at this incompetent human.

Isago paused for a moment; apparently, he was mulling over this response. He opened his mouth, but Karasu saw this pause as an opportunity, and so he quickly interjected, "Ah—If I may…" Isago looked over but made no move to stop him from talking, so he continued, "You have no quarrel with the Rain village by my knowledge. What would be the point of ordering an unprovoked assassination on a nearby village Kazekage—likely only resulting in war? My discontent with the Rain village is personal; I merely came here to be relieved of it. If at any time during my stay here in this village you have reason to doubt my intentions of peace, by all means, remove me at once." _'That should make you happy, Ka-ze-ka-ge-sa-ma.'_ Karasu mocked the man's title in his head, adding extra sarcasticy to 'sama', the usual respectful term for a person in a position of power. _'Like I could ever put a human above me like that and not feel dirty afterwards. Ew. I need a bath.'_

Isago looked somewhat surprised by Karasu's articulated speech. Once again he wondered about the rift in the boy's age and his mannerisms and disposition. After his moments pondering, Isago turned back to look at the Kazekage, awaiting an answer. One of the men standing aside the curtain stepped behind it and leaned to whisper in the Kazekage's ear. Karasu, politely, didn't eves drop on what the man said. Really, he just didn't care enough to bother. He had the ability to hear it if he wished, but instead he waited quietly for a response as the man stepped back into his original position.

The wait lasted for only a little longer before the Kazekage spoke up, "Very well. You will be given a residence that will be paid for the first month, but you will have no further aid with finances after that. Leave the room while Isago gives his report. He will guide you to your home after he has finished."

Karasu nodded and stood, a guard practically breathing down his neck as he 'escorted' him out of the room with his huge, nubby hand on his shoulder. Karasu forced a blank look on his face, but his eye twitched once as he thought, _'It's touching me, it's touching me! Ew! Gross, so damn gross! His breath smells like year old eggs and dead bodies, and the rest of him smells like sweat, dirt, alcohol, and puke! I think I'm going to be sick…_' Really, he just had a good sense of smell—all of those scents were probably weeks old and minute.

Karasu didn't shrug off the scratchy, nubby, huge, calloused hand until they left the room, happy to return the guards earlier cold glare now that he no longer had to be pleasant to the grimy humans. While he waited for Isago, Karasu messed around with his hair some more. The edges of his hair on the back and side of his head permanently curled out, and it was something that always bothered him. After fiddling with it for a few minutes he dropped his hands down and sighed. He was tired of those guards openly staring at him all the time when he touched his hair. Karasu gave them both a 'what are _you _looking at' glare, and leaned back into the wall behind him and crossed his arms. As soon as he relaxed against the wall, he sensed movement from inside the room. _'Thank Kami, I can finally go to this apartment and catch up on all the sleep I missed.'_ Isago stepped out of the dim room, nodding to Karasu who stood up from the wall.

They started off down the hallway again, Isago speaking when they were away from the Kazekage's room, "I will take you to your apartment. You have tomorrow to look around the village and get your bearings, but make sure you don't get lost. The day after that we are going to meet up for a mission, just meet us at the village gates at noon. We can stop by the hospital on the way and grab you some cream for your sunburn."

Karasu smiled at the man, "Sounds great to me. I won't get lost, don't worry."

Karasu sighed as he closed his door. He unpinned his cloak and dropped it on the ground. It was already 10 PM. He set the small jar of sunburn cream on the side table next to the bed. _'Today has been a bit too eventful. This room isn't great, but what the heck, it has a bed. Oh sweet cushion, come to me!'_ He smiled and laughed to himself a little, and then flopped down onto the bed. His arms and legs went stiff as he stretched in all different directions, and went limp afterwards. While looking up at the ceiling, he pondered the Kazekage's response.

'_Well, something is up for sure if he so quickly changed his mind after that guy whispered to him. There is no way that nasty excuse of a Kazekage would drop suspicion that quickly without a reason. They must be planning to watch me until they 'know I am not a threat'.'_ Sighing aloud, Karasu pushed his consciousness out into the space around the apartment. Yep, sure enough, one, two, three, _four._ FOUR people to watch a 13 year old? He was right to think that bag of old smelly sand was crazy…

AN:

Well, here it is! This REALLY came out to be a lot more than I expected. My original plan for just the first chapter might have to be broken up into two or three.

Make sure you tell me what you think, though. I really need to work on making my writing less awkward, that's my biggest problem right now. And tell me if you think it's too boring; if it is, what could I do to help that?

I hope everyone liked it! Mr. Cowlick is going to meet with Gaara next chapter and sexually harass the poor raccoon-demon-container. (Just raunchy humor, not rape! I don't mean rape!) We will see how well Karasu takes his growing feelings for a human, though. Dun dun duuuuunn.

In one of my upcoming chapters I might link to fanart of Karasu, because I know he is kind of hard to imagine. If you didn't get it in the story, he has kind of ashen blue hair, and very icy blue eyes. As for his hair shape…I guess if you took Sasuke's duckbutt on the back and made it less dramatic, stuck it on either side of a person's head, gave them those long in-your-eyes bangs, and a shorter length back, that's what his hair looks like. Then making it that funny blue-grey color 8D! I think the visual would help.

Once more, pretty please with sugar on top, tell me what you think :) And thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

Full story name: Demon from the Rain

AN:

**Edit: I just made some slight changes to this chapter, nothing drastic like with the first.**

Here is the second chapter! It was very long to begin with so I chopped it in half and will make the second half into the third chapter. I hope you all enjoy! 8D

Chapter 2

_Karasu's eyes slowly slid open. He felt dry air slide into his lungs as he took in a breath. It was dim, and he felt sand on the front of his body. His mind felt fuzzy, but he figured he must be laying stomach down out in the desert somewhere. 'What's going on?...I thought I made it to Suna,' he thought groggily. Slowly he pushed himself off the sand but he felt his right arm sting. Then suddenly he was hit with Déjà-vu. He remembered being in the desert just like this—his hood was on, his arm freshly sunburned; he was right back where he was after that sandstorm. _

'_..But shouldn't there be annoying genin poking me? Did I dream all of that?' Karasu squinted as he lifted his gaze from the sand under him into the blinding desert light and lifted his body fully off the grains beneath him. Just as he sat up, he felt a threatening presence behind him. He bolted off the ground, whipping around to face the deadly aura—prepared to fight—only to see a small child in front of him. The feeling from a moment ago was gone as quickly as it appeared._

_The child's arms hung by his sides, and one hand grasped the nub of a teddy bears arm. His short and messy bright red hair stuck out in all directions, and he looked up sadly at Karasu._

_Karasu lifted a hand to scratch the back of his head; his attack stance fell as he let out a sigh. He gave the boy a look between one of 'poor kid' and one of exasperation. He knew he couldn't leave this boy here. He lifted his hood off of his head so he would look less threatening before he spoke, "Kid, where're your parents? What are you doing out here alone in the desert?"_

_The boy didn't speak. His light cyan colored eyes merely drifted off Karasu's face to look sadly at the sand between them. Karasu sighed again, placing both his hands behind his head, closing his eyes and making a look close to that of one of Shikamaru's 'this is so troublesome' looks. "Well, kid, from how your dressed you look like you're from Suna. If you like, you can just follow me; I'm heading there right…" He trailed off, his hands dropping off the back of his head. Icy eyes trailed down to look at the ground as loud rumbling noise echoed though the sand and steadily got louder. _

_The sand beneath his feet suddenly shifted like during an earthquake, but the movement came only in one quick pulse. He let out a small yell as he was swept off his feet by this movement and fell down onto his side. His head quickly whipped up to look for the small red-headed boy, planning to snatch him up and run for it—since it seemed like the desert was going haywire—but the toddler was nowhere to be seen. He cursed silently and began to lift himself off the ground to search, but the sand shifted again, more violently this time, causing him to fall back on his side._

_He noticed the ground was all shifting circularly around a point where a small smooth white rock jutted out of the sand—it was not too far from him. Before he had time to consider what was happening, the earth groaned and snapped, and all the sand around and under him began to slide swiftly towards the point in the center of the enormous circle. It was like the mouth of a great beast was yawning open just as it woke. The angle got steeper very quickly; as if you were sliding down the hole of an hour glass. The small smooth stone had disappeared and the sky had somehow become dark grey and cloudy, like a thunderstorm—something that never happens in this desert. _

_Everything flashed to black as choking sand engulfed him…_

"AHHH! WHAT THE HELL!" Karasu screamed and jerked up from bed, panting heavily. His light blue eyes darted around the room before they rested on his familiar surroundings. After letting out a heavy sigh, he placed his hand over his chest. He could feel his heart beating quickly in its confinements. Sweat made his hair stick to his forehead, and most of his clothing stuck to his body. Ironically, he noticed he had been sleeping in the same position that he woke up in his dream in, and that he had woken up in the desert earlier the day before. _'Maybe that was why I had such a bizarre dream…'_

The boy ran a hand through his sweaty hair and bangs, and stood up to look at himself in the full-body mirror hanging on the wall next to his door. He was slightly pale, looked very tired, and his shoulders slumped slightly. Most noticeably, all of the hair on half of the top of his head that he had just touched was slicked straight up with sweat. _'Gross. I need a shower.'_

It was 7:34 AM when he glanced at the clock and decided he could quickly take a shower. When he got out of the shower, he used a water jutsu (that he had learned from a nice old man in the Rain country on one of his travels) to quickly purge his clothes of dirt and grime, and then dry them in only a few seconds. It was handy because it was quick, easy, effective, and you don't have to remove scrolls or ninja tools from your clothing that could be damaged by water. His arm had healed over night; the sunburn was something minor enough to heal very quickly. He would just have to tell Isago that cream really helped.

After the clothing was clean, he re-dressed himself. His outfit consisted of a short sleeve fishnet shirt under a dark grey plain shirt. His pants were full length, a lighter grey than his shirt, and had extra pockets for various summoning scrolls and ninja tools. His shoes were the standard ninja model—except they were not toeless, they were black, and the rims come up to just under his mid-calf (though, you couldn't see that because of the length of his pants). Colors obviously were not his forte. He found after about the first 3000 years of his life—he only really was in his human form for about the later 1000 of that 3000—wearing colors just didn't work on him. His whole wardrobe was made up of grayscale except for the occasional red item or some hue that had been grayed down.

He scooped up his blue-tinted light grey cloak off the ground and strapped it on at its one connecting point around his neck as he walked out the door. Turning around for a moment to lock his apartment door behind him, he stuffed the key on the inside of his pants pocket and lifted its hood above his head. After he pulled his arms into the cloak, so it draped over his shoulders and covered the front of his body, he started off down the hallway to get out of the building.

In the lobby he received a suspicious look from the apartment receptionist, so he averted his eyes. He wasn't going to make contact with the imposing stare. If he offended this guy, it would surely give him problems later in his stay. _'I hate getting looks from these people. It makes me feel nasty, getting stared at so much by...humans. Ew…I'm going to have to get used to these humans soon or I'll have a terrible time..._'

As he stepped outside, he quickly jumped to the roof of the building to get an idea of his surroundings. Looking out at the dusty, brown dawn sky, he could see the whole village from wall to wall. Slowly, he turned, taking in the village all around him. He could tell he was slightly off to the left side of the village (relative of looking in at the village from the front gate) and slightly towards the back. It was probably because this was the area that was mostly residential. The two genin looked like they headed this way when they jumped off to go home.

Pin pricks slowly traveled up his spine. He could feel some dirty human watching him from his behind, trying to conceal themselves. Physically, Karasu showed no signs of noticing the presence, and sat down on the roof of the rounded sandy building with a sigh. Pretending to gaze at the village, he carefully analyzed the small amounts of chakra that were left accidently unconcealed. _'I recognize this guy from somewhere… he is obviously trying to hide from me, but he is doing a very bad job. He's probably one of those goons that were hanging out with the Ka-ze-ka-GAY. His eyes are boring into my head, and he is so intent he is letting his chakra cover slip. This is surely one of the guys sent to watch me. I sure as hell can't confront him, if they know I am sharper or stronger than I'm letting on, it will be even more suspicious; this guy is their idea of elite. I would be busted for sure. I guess I have to spend my time remembering to act as normal and unsuspecting as possible…_taku_, what a pain.'_ Sighing again with even more exasperation, Karasu shook his head and stood to wonder the village.

It was now about 7:30 PM. The ninja had finally felt comfortable enough to leave, only because he thought that Karasu was a normal kid who just had a really weird sense of fashion and acted funny. _'FINALLY. I HOPE your satisfied Mister. Took you long enough, you unassuming little bastard.'_ Karasu laughed to himself and put his hands on the back of his head in triumph. He now walked in a very good mood since he was ridden of his annoyance. At the next alleyway, Karasu turned out of the busy street and jumped up to the roofs again when not in sight of everyone. He absently wandered from roof to roof as he reminisced of his experiences when his elite-ninja-follower was in tow.

He had worked carrying some boxes for an old lady for some money, and then used that to go out and eat. Then he visited things such as: the one and only library, the hospital, and other places that one might go when getting a feel of their new village. This eventually had satisfied the ninja. He had been on his way just a moment ago to visit the local market—he was seriously running out of ideas. So, it was perfect timing for the ninja to leave! Pleased with this outcome, he clapped his hands together and laugh over the man's ignorance.

A few minutes had passed and it was now almost 8 PM. The sun was slowly beginning to get lower in the sky, and a hint of darkness was appearing over the village. He decided to make his way to the tallest building in the village, which was the building that sent and received hawk messages. He didn't think they would mind or notice if he took a little sit down on top of it.

He quickly and discretely scaled the building when he arrived, and happily sat down at its peak. The sky was starting to turn reds and yellows as the sun drifted closer to the horizon. This was a pretty awesome viewpoint, with the hawk building being near the center of the village (since it had to be close to the Kazekage tower—that was dead center of the village—in the event of an emergency) and very high up, he could easily see over all of the other buildings and look out at the sunset on the desert horizon. It was also a plus that it was on the side closer to the residential area, and so fairly close to his apartment.

He basked in the light of the sun and the view until it was completely gone. His gaze then shifted to another part of the sky where the moon had become the center of attention, its background gradually contrasting more and more against it as dark blue faded to black. The entire village had gone silent now that the sun was gone. _'This defiantly isn't a 'city that never sleeps'. I can't hear a single party or club or anything going on. How boring. Maybe I should have tried the leaf village first,'_ he let out a sigh,_ 'At least it's pretty here.'_

The moon drifted higher in the sky, and Karasu stood from his place on top of the building. _'I should probably be getting some sleep; I have to go on that mission crap tomorrow.'_ He took one last look at the village as he prepared to jump off the roof, but he stood again from his jumping position when a rather bright color against the sandy colors of the village caught his eye. He squinted a little; the red mop he was observing appeared to be attached to a person.

His heart suddenly skipped in realization, and immediately his hand pinched his leg and then slapped the side of his face. _'Get a hold of yourself! I need to figure out what the deal is with this red-head so I stop acting like this. It's so…un-manly.'_

Karasu lifted off his hood and proceeded to jump in the red-head's direction. The younger boy was sitting on a building slightly shorter than the one Karasu was originally on and was looking at the moon. As Karasu's feet hit the building's roof a few meters away he expected the other to look at him, but his eyes remained plastered to the moon.

Karasu stood there for a moment, waiting, but the ninja still did nothing. The moonlight of the almost full moon illuminated the younger boy's already porcelain looking face in a ghostly glow. Karasu became slack-jawed without even noticing it; he was almost mesmerized by the other boy. Quickly he snapped his mouth shut and shook his head. To avoid making an ass of himself, he only mentally scolded himself instead of slapping or pinching some part of his body like earlier.

When the red-head still did nothing, Karasu took it upon him to start conversation. He grinned, speaking a little louder than necessary, "It looks like I'm not the only one around here with bright hair." After all, that brilliant hair was what caught his attention in the first place.

There was no reaction from the other, just silence.

He tried again, "What are you doing out here, kid?"

"…"

"Kami, you don't talk a lot, do you?"

"…."

"I guess not." A pause hung in the air. "Are you like this all the time?"

"I'm going to kill you." His voice was low and sounded somewhat strained or gravely, probably because he did not talk often.

Karasu made no move to back down, "Aww, come on, what crawled up your ass and died?" He snorted a little, but tried not to laugh at his own joke.

"…"

"I hope it's not something contagious." His throat quivered as he held in another laugh.

Gaara's eyes narrowed and his gaze shifted from the moon to this pestering intruder. Almost unnoticeably, recognition flashed through the smaller boy's eyes when he saw the other's face.

Karasu caught that tiniest flicker of emotion. _'He probably remembers me from when we passed each other on the street…'_

"That's the most your face has changed this whole time! I was a little worried you would never even move."

Gaara's voice sounded even more flat than before, "…You are the most obnoxious being on the planet."

"Thanks Gaara-kun, I'll take that as a compliment coming from you." Karasu leaned back on the side of a sand-tank of sorts that was on the roof of the building. He gazed over at the other and sent him a sly smile with slightly lidded eyes. To some it could be considered an 'I'm-coming-on-to-you' look, but Karasu was oblivious to the fact that he was making the face. It was like every feature on that tanuki's face was put there specifically to accentuate it. The black rings to make his eyes stand out against his pale skin, which was framed by bright cinnabar colored hair. He was unconsciously admiring it all.

This time he didn't have a chance to pull himself out of his bizarre thoughts, the boy had beat him to it. "…Leave, or I will kill you."

"You're sure there is nothing dead in your ass?"

The red-head's eyes squinted into a heavy glare. He was unsure how to act around behavior like this; someone actually being unafraid of him. He had never encountered it before, nor had he ever really heard someone trying to joke with him. That is, if these weird comments are supposed to be jokes…

Karasu's eyes became half-lidded and rather flirty again, basking in the others glare. Of course, he didn't even begin to notice he was doing this, and apparently the other boy didn't either, but it was rather obvious to any outsider. Gaara didn't seem to discern the look he was getting from any other gaze, the only looks he knew were hate and fear, or some variations of the two. So, he merely glared harder at the other boy.

Karasu grinned and pushed off the sand-barrel with his shoulder, advancing leisurely to the red-head. After only a few steps, his eyes shifted to the huge gourd on the others back. He hadn't noticed it beforehand (that's how out of it he was), but now his ears picking up a soft shifting from inside. His head cocked in confusion as the cork on the top of the gourd squeaked as it twisted on its own, then popped off.

The red-head's eyes looked rather terrifying as he growled, "You're dead." Sand began flowing out of the gourd, and as the chakra became apparent, Karasu recognized the demon Shukaku.

'_So this is where that guy has gone? Sealed in a container? I feel bad for him. I never really liked him that much though; he never really liked me either. No wonder I sensed something familiar! I should probably scram before this turns into a problem.'_ The older boy's smile never faded as he waved at the angry little tanuki in front of him, chirping, "Ja na!"

Then, he quickly leaped from the roof. Luckily, neither the younger boy nor the sand made any attempt to chase him, so a battle wouldn't be necessary. He quickly escaped to the residential area. That captivating boy was far behind him now, but not far in his mind. He entertained thoughts of the red-head all the way until he got to his apartment, and even more inside his room.

Trying to push the annoying and confusing thoughts from his mind, he hummed softly to himself and pulled out a scroll attached to his hip. After laying the scroll out on the ground and opening it, a summoning-like pattern appeared. He drew some blood on his thumb with his canines and then activated the scroll. This particular scroll was more like a bottomless-pit-no-jutsu scroll than a summoning scroll, because after the scroll was activated, you just reached in to grab anything of the infinite amount of stuff you may have put in it. He willed for some of his more recent clothing to be within reach, and pulled them out of the cool abyss of the scroll. This was where he kept all of his personal items (after 5000 years you collect a lot more than can fit in a suitcase) and decided now would be a good time to unpack some of his clothing.

AN:

Yaaaayyy, it's the second chapter!

This one was kind of boring besides the meeting, but I promise, the next chapter is super cool and full of action! Ninja fights and jutsu and super cool stuff.

Update on the Karasu fan art: yes, it's coming. Slowly. I want to draw a nice picture of him before I show it off! I will probably name it something like "Karasu DFTR" the letters standing for the title of the story, so it can be searched easily. I'm also thinking about sketching funny scenes from the story. Sort of like pieces of a manga. Look out for those too! I don't know when they will come around though. They will probably be out of order too.

Any questions, feel free to ask them 8D if you do it before the next chapter is up I can reply there.

An answer to a question you might be asking: Yes, Karasu is really 5000 years old. Actually older than that :) he's around the 5400's. You can maybe speculate why. Also, "ja na" is like "see ya!" in Japanese—and "taku" is slang for "damnit" or "jeeze". 8D


	3. Chapter 3

AN:

**Edit: I am just on a re-write role here. 8D Some more minor changes this chapter. The only chapter so far worth re-reading still is the first one. The changes to the last two are too minor to really bother with.**

School is almost over! Once it is, I will be updating a lot faster. I will basically have nothing else to do accept drivers training. If you like the story, it should update fast soon. This story is probably going to be VERY long. It's going to go through Shippuden, and maybe well after. I also might make some off to the side crack-fics for this couple LOL. They probably won't follow this same plot, but they might for some of them. I might even do a high school-style fic as well with my OC, just because they are so fun to write. 8D

Without further ado, the third chapter! *drumroll*

Chapter 3

Karasu shifted in bed as bright light shined into his closed eyes. He wiggled in vain to try and find a comfortable spot where the light did not prod his sight. Eventually he sighed in defeat and cracked open his eyes to glare at the clock. _'10:42 AM. What an ungodly hour.'_

For most people, 10:30 is a fine time to wake up. But for Karasu who was up until 5 AM unpacking, organizing, and wandering in his room, unable to sleep from having his thoughts haunted by a certain red-head, 10:30 was just the _most _painful time to try to get up. He groaned and slowly rose out of bed. He knew that with the light beaming in at him, and the fact that he had to be at the gates in an hour and a half, he would not be able to go back to sleep.

Looking in the mirror, his hair was ruffled in just about every direction. It seemed that his hair never wanted to cooperate with him, which was why he hated it. He wished he could just cut it all off at times, but he always decided against it. It would be worse to have any other hair than what he already had now. He glared at his hair and huffed, then proceeded to shake his head side to side vigorously. When he stopped, his hair had mostly fallen into place. _'That's as much as I want to do to this crap today. I'm lucky my cowlicks aren't showing today. Damn hair. It will fix itself later.'_

Karasu had fixed himself up and dressed in his usual getup. Before he left his apartment, he grabbed a few supplies, and sealed some snacks in a scroll just in case he got hungry—he had already eaten breakfast. He didn't bother to put up his hood this time, as the angle of the sun caused the shadows of the buildings to cover most of the streets. But, because he doesn't enjoy direct sunlight as strong as Suna's, it is a good reason to keep his cloak on as an option at all times.

The walk to the village gates was rather uneventful, aside from the expected glares from the villagers. He was waiting at the gates already, about a half hour before noon. _'Ugh, I could have slept in for another half hour. Whatever, I guess. I'm already here no-…OHHH! Hehehe.'_ Karasu instantly stopped his brooding when he saw a particular crimson haired boy in the distance. Gaara—along with his brother and sister—must have been sent on another super special secret specialized spectacular mission. He felt himself fidgeting back and forth on his feet with a huge smile on his face as he waited for them to get closer. He didn't know why himself the reason he suddenly got so hyper and giddy.

The tanuki had already begun sending Karasu a stony glare; he recognized him from a distance as well. Temari and Kankuro gave Karasu suspicious glares as well, despite the others enormous smile. They were as unhappy as any other villager to have a newcomer in the village. Though, Temari was the first to notice her little brother's out-of-place glare. He usually didn't care enough to make any facial expressions at anyone. She looked between Karasu and Gaara a few times before questioning aloud, "Gaara, do you know this kid?" The brooding teen did not respond; his glare only got colder as they neared the odd boy who was smiling and giggling to himself.

Karasu thought better of trying to start any conversation, and as Gaara passed, he merely gave him an inconspicuous wink along with his beaming smile, and waved the team off. Temari and Kankuro gave their brother and this strange boy a few confused looks and stares. Gaara quickened his pace through the large canyon village entrance. His siblings had to do a small jog to catch back up with him—Gaara left no room from questions or conversation. _'Gaara actually walking fast? I have no idea who this kid is, but he sure makes him uncomfortable…'_ Temari quietly thought to herself as they left the village.

Elsewhere in Suna, two boys sat crouched together in a nearby alleyway. One, with brown hair, was speaking like he was giving a lecture to his blonde companion, "Okay, so my dad told me that Isago let the guy we found in the desert go on today's mission with us. He isn't officially apart of our team—this is a test-run to see how loyal he's gonna be to Suna." The brunette paused dramatically, and his friend leaned in close with wide eyes.

He continued, "I still don't know about this one, Tsu'. He seems kinda funny. We can talk about what we think of him when this mission ends. Watch for anything suspicious. Keep your _eyes_ peeled, man." The brunette's voice became eccentric and his eyes widened on the corresponding word, 'eyes', causing the blonde to giggle.

He started up again, "I've got a plan, though. To feel this guy out. Listen up…"

After the plotting was complete, the pair stood up and the blonde gave a dramatic hand signal to 'move out'. They both broke into a run out of the alleyway towards the village entrance, earning some odd looks from the commuting villagers.

Karasu sat down against the tall rock barrier surrounding the village and smiled. Images of that 'cute-little-tanuki's' face floated through his mind. After a moment, though, his face became troubled and he sighed. _'I need to get a hold of myself. Getting into human affairs is a bad idea. They are all assholes, they all die quick, you can't trust them, and on top of it, this one wants to kill me!…Oh, Kami, who am I fooling? Not I—my emotions are out of whack for sure. But, over a human? You've got to be kidding me…"_ He sighed a second time.

In defeat, he didn't try to stop himself this time as more images of that cute little glare bored through his head. A big grin reappeared on his face, and his eyes closed to imagine more vividly, completely giving in to his minds wishes.

"What are you so happy about?" The question jerked him out of his thoughts, looking up to see Isago's face smiling humorously down at him. Karasu's hand reached up to touch his face, looking a little dumbfounded as he felt the warmth coming off of it. His face heated up further as he realized he must have been stupidly smiling with a big blush on his cheeks, and Isago had to have seen him. He laughed nervously and stood, brushing off his pants, and then put his hands behind his head to respond, "Oh, nothing, don't worry about it." He flashed a big smile and then laughed again. One of his hands dropped to his side while the other remained to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

Isago smiled slyly but decided not to pry, and instead asked, "So, what are you doing here so early?"

Happy to get off the subject, Karasu genuinely ginned, "Well, I didn't have anything else to do before I came here so I just decided to come and wait." He almost immediately kicked himself.

'_Good Kami, I am actually genuinely being nice to this Jounin? What is this place and these people doing to me?...'_ Karasu mentally face palmed and groaned; he could feel the near future won't be very good.

Isago nodded and the two proceeded to talk until the two other genin arrived. Isago asked him about his previous day that he was given to look around the village. Karasu carefully left out his little run-in with the sandman, but spoke about all about the places he visited. After a couple of minutes of chit-chat, the two genin ran up together, both arguing about who made the other late. Isago gave them both a hit over the head and told them to officially introduce themselves. It was at this point when Karasu realized he didn't even know the brats' names.

The rowdy, curly brown haired boy was the first to speak, "I'm Abriu! This failure next to me is Tsuchino. He-"

The blonde shoved Abiru out of the way, loudly proclaiming, "ACTUALLY, he is the failure! He is the reason we are late!"

"I THOUGHT WE ALREADY WENT OVER THIS, _YOU _ARE THE-"

They both succeeded in getting another hit to the head from Isago, and Karasu shook his head with a sigh. Before they could begin to bicker again, he quickly spoke, "I'm Karasu. It's a…uh…pleasure." Isago chuckled, and then signaled for the team to move out through the gates.

"Our mission is C-rank," some sudden whoops and hollers of excitement were heard from the two genin. "You two better behave for it. Our mission is to travel to the Suna/River country border where a small group of rouges are hanging around. The reports say that there are currently only 10 rouges. This was of a week ago, but the numbers have not been reported as anything different since. They also have no ninja skills besides their weapons. This should be pretty easy if you two can handle it and not goof off. You all will be safe though, I am a Jounin, so I could take them all out on my own if I had to."

"Aww, sensei, don't worry, nothing will go wrong!"

"Yeah, we will be fine! We will kick so many butts! Ne, ne, Karasu!" Abiru prodded his temporary teammate to see what kind of reaction he would have. Tsuchino watched intently as possible without looking like he was doing so.

Karasu looked over at Abiru's prompting, scratching the back of his head with a smile and a small laugh, "Heh, hai." He could feel the sun beating down and heating his head as they left the sandstone pass, so he quickly lifted his hood over his head for shade.

Tsuchino bothered him this time, testing the ninja's buttons, "Oh, have more enthusiasm than that! This will be our first C-rank mission where we actually get to kick some butt! I have been training so hard for this!"

Karasu turned his head and tried not to glare at the two kids. He felt like they were testing him.

Karasu opened his mouth to respond, but the two boys started jumping around each other in excitement talking about how much they have trained and how cool they will be. This was strategically planned to cause the subject to become uninterested. Karasu sighed, and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he sped up to walk next to Isago who was leading the group. "So, about how long will this trip to the border be?"

As Karasu talked, the genin whispered about the findings of their experimenting. Oddly enough, Karasu legitimately took no notice—and Isago once again unconsciously blocked out his genin's charades. These loudmouths are a little too easy to tune out…

"It will take about three and a half hours. The hidden village isn't too far from the River village border," he spoke up more when addressing the pair behind him, "If you two behave on the mission, I will treat you all to dinner in the nearby town."

The kids abruptly stopped their scheming and cheered, jumped up and down, and blabbed more to each other.

Karasu shook his head. _'That will give those brats some incentive to listen to their jounin.'_

Isago spoke more quietly to Karasu when the boys behind him were absorbed in each other, leaning a little closer to him, "Listen, if those two get in trouble and somehow get separated from me, I want you to take charge. I have faith that you would be responsible."

Karasu looked over and studied the man's face, legitimately surprised. He couldn't help but let some sincerity leak into his soft smile, "I will do my best, Isago."

'_Maybe living here and getting used to humans again won't be so bad. I suppose they don't all have to be scum. I'm impressed he trusts me already. He's lucky I'm not me from about 3000 or 4000 years ago…'_

"By the way, what jutsu do you use? I just realized I didn't know, I meant to ask you before." The genin started eves dropping again at this point—carefully observing his answer. Abiru's eyes narrowed when the older boy in front of him faltered.

"Um…" Karasu trailed off and involuntarily glanced to the bottom right, away from the jounin. He wanted to slap himself right in the face—he had all the time one would need, but hadn't thought of an answer if this basic question arose. _'SHIT. I don't know what I should tell him! I can't give myself away and just say I can do them all. I guess I just have to go with my basic jutsu—hopefully saying I know the natures I'm best at won't end up bad for me later.'_

He tried to recover gracefully from his hesitation, but in his concentration completely missed the suspicion from the boys behind him. "…Well, I know some medical ninjutsu, I'm fairly decent at taijutsu, and my chakra nature is water—I have some ninjutsu for that too."

Isago didn't seem to suspect a thing; he responded casually, "Water, really? I guess I could have assumed—but that is interesting. We don't have anyone water-natured in our village besides you, then. Medical ninjutsu, too, though?" Isago looked over at Karasu as he ambled, "That is a very virtuous trait to have a part of one's team."

Karasu let out an internal sigh of relief, _'I guess that fits with coming from the rain village too, good pick. I sense that he is totally relaxed, too. That went much better than expected.'_ Karasu grinned—being rather pleased with Isago's lack of apprehension.

He nodded and laughed, "Well, go figure—it's the Wind country, not the Rain country. Boy, do I feel special now."

Both of the boys had their eyes glued to the two conversing ninja in front of them from a few feet back. The blonde saw another chance to get more reactions out of their new 'friend'. He discretely nodded at the hooded boy in front of him and whispered to Abiru, "Let's bother him some more."

Before Isago could reply, Tsuchino and Abiru butted in, synchronizing a shout of, "WATER JUTSU?!"

"Show us!"

"I have never seen a water jutsu before!"

"What is your coolest technique?"

"Could you swim when you were born?—You know, I heard that some place—"

"SHOW US, PLEEAASSEEE!"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSS!—"

"WOAH. Calm down!" Karasu sounded irked as he tried to quiet the screaming nuisances. He had turned his head to be faced with this unpleasant onslaught of questions. As he fought down the urge to touch his throbbing forehead, he simultaneously tried to force the agitation from his voice when he replied. "I don't like to show off. Maybe you will see in battle."

"AWWWWWWWWWWW!" He winced as his new headache crackled.

"Yeah, yeah, shove it." Karasu mumbled over his shoulder. He didn't try to keep the patronizing look off of his face as he turned around and flicked both of the genin with each of his hands on their foreheads.

Abiru stuck out his tongue and Tsuchino glared and pouted at the ground. Isago chuckled a little, and Karasu turned forward again triumphantly.

Abiru grumbled under his breath, "We will get you one of these times, you just wait."

"We are here," Isago announced as trees came into view over the horizon. Suddenly, the two genin gasped and screamed, then ran towards the trees despite Isago's annoyed calls. To follow them, he and Karasu were forced to break into a run.

The two boys jumped under the shade of the first tree they could get to. It was obviously a rare occurrence for them to ever see a tree, especially a large one. Karasu took his hood back off when he was in the much more inviting shade of the trees. When possible he liked it down, since it blocked his hearing to have it up. He and Isago waited patiently as the pair of dorks stopped at every bush and tree and stream to examine them.

Eventually Isago pushed them along so they could get to their camp for the night. When Isago stopped the team it was nearing dusk. They had arrived at the border around 5 PM, and the walk to their camp took an extra two hours with all of the stops by the genin. The sun hadn't set, but its increasing angle made everything somewhat dim in the shadows of the trees. They quickly set up camp with a small fire before it got dark out, and all sat around the center of the little camp when they had finished.

Isago began to explain their plan of action for the next morning, "This camp is about a 30 minute walk from where the rouges base is said to be. In the morning we will be up at 6, and will strike at dawn, around 6:30. When we get there, if they are big simpletons like they are supposed to be, we should be able to use surprise to our advantage and take them down."

"Do we have to have a plan? This should be soooo easy. And why so eaarrlllyyyyy?..." The boys both whined, and Isago just shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose. Karasu shot the whining kids a discrete glare; he wasn't in the mood to hear their gripe. Something wasn't right and it was rubbing his nerves the wrong way.

He stopped glaring and squinted when a thought struck him. "Isago, if these rouges are so weak, why have they not been taken care of by the River country?"

Isago exhaled and thought for a moment before answering, "Well, good question. The river country does not have a very strong military force, and it's already spread thin. They decided it would be better to strengthen alliances and just pay us to do it. We are actually closer to this place than their hidden village is anyways. The small town being bothered is only full of normal people, and big thugs with weapons were too much for them alone."

Karasu leaned back and nodded, placing his hands behind him on the ground to support him up. _'I still have a bad feeling. I hope I am just imagining things.'_

"We should all get some sleep for tomorrow," Isago stated, and Karasu shook his head when it was followed by, 'I'm not tired!''s and 'Awwwww…''s. Eventually Isago got the boys to go to bed after much lecturing, and they were all in their respective places around the fire. Karasu pulled his hood over his head and tried to sleep.

Abiru whispered to Tsuchino in the light of the waning fire. "Don't let your guard down. I can tell he is hiding something. Watch him when he battles tomorrow." The blonde nodded, and then they both concentrated on falling asleep like it was their job.

_Karasu stood in the desert. As he glared up at the beating sun, he pulled his hood over his head. His gaze drifted to the ground where a small smooth white stone stuck out of the sand. He cocked his head to the side a little, crouching down with his elbows resting on his knees. How strange for a stone of such different color to be out here? His hand carefully reached out to touch the stone…_

"_What are you doing here?" A cold voice made him whip his head around and pull back his hand. His eyes widened in confusion when he saw a red haired boy standing behind him. _

_He quickly turned around and stood, grinning, "Oh my, what are you doing out here? Did you finally come to say hi?"_

_The boy remained stoic and unmoved by Karasu's cheery questioning. Karasu's face suddenly dropped from its smile to one of confusion and then fear as the other boys face suddenly twisted in pain. He achingly watched as the screams exploded from the boy's mouth. He could see his bones and spine moving and twisting under his skin, his body contorting as it did so._

_Karasu's body jerked, trying to move to help the other boy, but he couldn't move—as if his feet were rooted in the ground. He quickly found that he couldn't speak either. He was now completely worthless. Panic and horror began to set in as the red-head screeched and gripped his chest. A loud ripping and snapping filled the air._

_Karasu's mouth hung and his eyes were wide. His body that was previously held stiff fell back and he landed on his hips with his hands to support him. Blood and scraps of meat were everywhere; the body they had come from was no longer whole, almost like an explosion had taken place. The boy's slate-colored hair was streaked crimson. As his eyes moved down to his own body he could see he was covered in blood. He had not seen anything like that for a couple decades, and he never wished to have to witness something like this again._

_Karasu let himself fall onto his back. He rolled onto his side and pulled his legs up to his chest, his hand pulling his hood down over his face until his whole body was in a ball. Why did the scum in his mind love to torture him? He could feel it laughing—crooning at his weakness._

_The withering heat from the sun faded and stormy clouds rolled over him; humidity filling the air. He silently shook, feeling his heart wrench as a droplet of water hit his cheek._

A gruff voice penetrated the air, "It's time to get up, everyone. It might rain soon."

Karasu was curled up tightly in a ball on the forest floor; a droplet of rain had fallen on his cheek from the brooding and dim early morning sky. His eyes slowly cracked open, his skin and clothing damp from the humid air. He could hear the occasional droplet fall onto the leaves in the forest around them, signaling the light drizzle.

"Hopefully it will clear up soon, but, come on; we have got to get ready."

Karasu lifted himself up from the ground. Still, an ache lingered in his heart from the scene he had witnessed. He could still smell the blood in the air, clogging his nose. _'Don't worry. It was only a dream…'_ He tried to reassure himself, but somehow it just felt so real. He didn't know if this was some omen he should be worried about—or if it was just his mind's usual plague. If it was indeed an omen, he didn't know how literal it was. Shaking his head, he stood up off the sleeping-pad he had made his bed for the night and quickly began rolling it up to re-seal it in a scroll.

Meanwhile, the two genin stared up in wonder at the stormy sky, holding out their hands to try and catch a droplet or two. Isago had traveled before, but the genin had likely hardly made it out of their village. They might have only seen rain once or twice in their lives, so their fascination was understandable. He could tell the two genin were burning with more questions to hassle him with, probably about rain and such, but because of his gloomy atmosphere, they—surprisingly—didn't ask. He didn't mind.

When the camp was cleaned up, they started off towards the position of the rouge camp that they planned to invade. After about fifteen minutes of walking, approximately halfway to the rouge base, the weather had started to turn more favorable. The clouds thinned slightly, the sprinkling stopped, and a little more light shown through the blanket of clouds.

Karasu pulled his hood over his head as they neared the hideout. There was no sun to bother him right now; it was more to hide his gloom, though it was evident regardless. Ever since that disturbing dream he had felt somewhat depressed. He knew it was only a dream, it didn't really happen, but he could still vividly hear the boy's screams, see his face, and smell his blood. He shook his head, trying not to think about the nightmare. Nightmare. Yes, that is a much better way to describe it.

Isago held out his arm as a signal for the pod to stop. He spoke in a low tone, "We are near the camp. I will circle around to the back. Abiru, you stay here. Karasu, you go to the left, and I will escort Tsuchino to the right as I make my way to the back. We will surround the compound and attack from all sides. Watch each other's backs while you fight. Wait for my signal." The three nodded, Abiru and Tsuchino both looking nervously at each other and swallowing. Karasu pushed the thought of the nightmare into the back of his mind.

Something about the nervousness of the boys—combined with the fact that they hadn't bothered him yet today—made him feel sympathetic. They probably haven't seen real combat until today. He reached his hands forward and touched them each on the shoulder.

They both instantly looked over at him in surprise. Karasu smiled reassuringly and squeezed before he let them go. They stared for a moment, and then both nodded rather dumbly in thanks.

Isago gave a nod and they all began to surround the camp. Karasu looked back to give Abiru a thumbs up and a nod before disappearing into the trees as he moved into position.

'_That dream is making me go crazy. I'm being so nice I am surprising _myself_.' _He shook his head at his bizarre actions and crouched down when he reached his post. He carefully peered through the trees and waited for the sign from Isago.

As the seconds passed, he could feel stress building in his chest. Somehow, he sensed more strength than there should be in the hideout of 10 lowly humans, who weren't even ninja. Something just felt very off. He brushed off the thoughts—he knew his skills were rusty, so he must be imagining it all.

Karasu's eye caught Isago's signal to move in. He quickly leaped into the clearing and burst into the nearest hut. There was a big burly man laying splayed out, snoring. Other men in the camp started yelling and the man stirred, grunting and opening his eyes as he sat up. He shouted, "…Huh? Eh? Who are you?!"

Karasu quickly grabbed him by the neck, lifted him up, and then slammed him back down—his head knocked off the ground. The man's body whiplashed as his skull bounced off the floor, and he was instantly unconscious. Karasu leapt out of the hut to proceed to the next one, catching a glimpse of the action in the clearing. He stopped. Immediately, one thing was obvious. There were many more men than just ten. The two genin were backing each other and seemed to be doing relatively well, though they were clearly scared. Isago was taking six or seven men at a time by himself.

'_What? Did these people lie to us? No, they would have no reason to. This must have been a trick or a set up. Kami, I should have known! How could I have been so stupid? I knew something bad was going to happen!'_

A noise behind him made him quickly whip his head around. A man was jumping towards Karasu with a large sword, in mid swing. Karasu's eyes darkened into a glare. In one fluid movement, he turned and threw a kunai at the man—he fell back with a yell when it connected with his chest.

A deep growl rose in the Rain ninja's throat when he looked around again. The clearing was swarming with dirty humans. By a quick count, there were at least 30 in the clearing and another 20 in the surrounding bush. Extending his senses outwards, he could feel close to a hundred separate chakras in the area heading towards them. Great!

He figured that Isago could handle himself, so Karasu sprung off the ground in the direction of the two genin. The burst of air from the forward movement blasted his hood off his head and so it now lay at his shoulders. His cloak billowed out behind him and flapped in the force of movement. In the air, he looked down. He could see in the split second the two boys in a circle of thugs, like a mob, back to back defending themselves. He landed on a goon's shoulders—who yelled a protest and swung at him—and then leapt again to make it the distance into the center of the circle.

The two genin looked at Karasu in surprise—they were ready to attack when they suddenly noticed who he was, and then refocused their attention on the rouges. They parted their stance so that instead of back to back, all three of them had their backs together in a triangle shape; Karasu now joined them. Many of the grubby men showed their crooked teeth in grins at the new addition.

There was barely a pause before one of the goons lifted his sword in a ready attack on Karasu's side. He quickly flashed some hand signs, howling, "_Suiton: shihashu no jutsu!_" He leaned forward and a concentrated jet of water blasted from his mouth, sending the man and all of the men behind him flying out and onto their backs. He stepped to the side with the jutsu still activated, causing the boys to shift the triangle. They caught on quickly when he stepped again, and rotated their triangle quickly around in a circle so that the jet of water hit the entire crowd around them. The tightly packed crowd acted like dominos, and then all fell over and tangled on top of each other. Karasu released his hand sign and the jet dissipated, standing up again from his slightly bent forward position with a smirk on his face.

The two genin fawned, sparkles in their eyes asking questions about the jutsu, "How did you do that?"

"When did you learn that?"

"You _have_ to teach me!"

He quickly slapped each of them on the shoulder; he spoke humorously but still sounded serious, "Pay attention!"

Karasu led the genin quickly out of the circle of men. He made sure to step on the faces of the men who were beginning to get up again on his way out. Just as they set foot in the middle of the clearing, all three boys stopped cold. Isago was unconscious and was being lifted by his the back collar of his flak jacket into the air. The man doing this seemed more calm and regal than the other thugs around him who were chuckling and sneering.

Karasu glowered at the man, stepping between him and the two boys, holding his arms back to singal them to get behind him. The two genin's eyes were wide, and they huddled close to his back. They were obviously afraid of the man who overpowered their sensei. Behind them, the men who Karasu had knocked over had all found their footing and were beginning to stand and circle them. He whipped his head around to send the men a glare over the tops of the other boy's heads (they were a couple of inches shorter than him).

He hastily pushed his senses outwards again and found that there were about 60 of the original 100 men still left. _"Damn it. How am I supposed to beat all of these guys and still look like a genin? Worst of all, they might tell the authorities my description and they will find out who I am. AGH. DAMN IT."_

Karasu let out a heavy growl and glared at the man with Isago still in hand. Defensively, he held out his arms further behind him around his teammates. With his voice low and loud, he spat out to the man, "Who are you? Are all of these assholes your groupies?"

The man shot Karasu a mean grin. "My name is Jinin Kurosuki. I am a rouge ninja from Kirigakure. I lured you kids and your leader in to capture for hostages. We can get some good money off you all."

'_MY LUCK! KIRIGAKURE! THE RAIN VILLAGE! OH BALLS. I really have no choice but to fight and capture him! That dirty, _dirty_ bastard.'_ Karasu grimaced, exhaling loudly through his nose.

"And who might you lowly genin be?" the man jeered.

'_Oh. OH. This NASTY FUCK thinks he's better than me? Oh he's so dead.'_

"PARDON ME, SIR?" Karasu's face had begun to redden with anger and frustration. Unfortunately, he knew he couldn't get angry in this situation. He let out a loud exasperated sigh to calm down and finished off with a heated glare at the man who had raised his eyebrows in amusement. Seeing this, he felt his anger quirk again, _'I can't let this bastard get to me. I guess I just have to do this.'_

He turned his head to the side and looked at the kids behind him. For a long moment he paused before he spoke. When he did, he articulated every word carefully. "Listen…I can get us out of this, and get back Isago. But you cannot tell anyone—_anyone_ what you see. Don't even discuss it between you two. Do not tell Isago, your parents, or your friends. Do you understand?"

The genin had wide eyes—wide with confusion and fear over their situation. Even though they didn't understand why, they both nodded dumbly. Karasu gave them a reassuring smile, and then dropped his arms into a fighting stance. "Keep close to each other, and don't move." They both nodded behind him, scooting so close to each other they were touching.

Jinin looked on at them in amusement, coddling sarcastically, "Aww, so cute! What do you think you can do against me? Your Jounin was an easy catch."

When his and the thug leader's eyes connected, Karasu gave him a smug and condescending glare. The man frowned a little at the boy's insolent attitude. Karasu held his glare and swiftly threw his hands to the ground, both of his palms smacking into the earth. Jinin dropped Isago at the sudden movement and repositioned himself with his arms up, ready to defend. Behind Karasu, a circular wall of clear ice shot up on all sides of the two boys. All of the walls connected above them to form a bubble. Their yells of surprise were abruptly cut off as they were sealed in the ice encasement; their images warped through the thick, cold barrier.

The leader's stance faltered in confusion. Ice? And how could he perform jutsu without hand signs? In the moment of his lapse, Karasu's legs straightened and he shot forward at the man like a bullet, leaving dust churning in the air where he was previously standing.

Jinin gaped at the boy's surprising speed, and leaped quickly into the air to avoid the attack. Karasu's hands were the first thing to make contact with the space that the rouge had been standing. As soon as he made contact with his hands, he gracefully swung his legs into the space between his arms, and then pushed off the ground again in pursuit. The movement looked similar to the interaction of a cat or dog's legs as it runs and jumps, but it all happened in only a split second.

The two boys squinted to try to see through the ice, their faces pressed up against the surface. They pushed at each other for turns to peer through the least distorted area that gave the clearest picture of the outside. Abiru loudly pestered Tsuchino, prodding his side, "What's happening? C'mon! What do you seeee?"

"Quiet! They are up in the air…"

"LET ME SEE!" Abiru shoved his face against Tsuchino's so their cheeks were connected, both of them now observing with one eye looking through the clear patch.

The head rouge, unable to evade in mid-air, grunted in frustration and fear. In his panic, he flung kunai at his pursuer. Karasu immediately took in an enormous breath that made his chest bow far outwards. Compressing his chakra into the air, he released the breath in a huge fireball at the man. The kunai caught in the jutsu's path melted into liquid as they passed through the roaring flames.

Jinin frantically flashed hand signs and screamed out a water jutsu, blasting a water ball from his mouth. When the water and fire collided, a colossal cloud of boiling hot steam burst out at every angle. It expanded so quickly with the great heat it made a sound similar to thunder and an explosion mixed together. A loud scream emanated from within the cloud, followed by the sound of a body hitting grass.

The crowd of henchmen on the ground yelled, gasped, or made some other noise, retreating further back from the battleground as the vapor expanded towards them like a hungry creature. As it spread out across the ground it cooled slightly, but was still hot enough to burn one who was foolish enough to stand in it. The boys pulled back from the wall and looked around them in apprehension as the steam began melt at their protective bubble—water streamed down the ice.

The melting suddenly ceased as the steam deposited in the air. It changed from the expanding free-floating gas into ice crystals just moments before the ice wall had melted. As the crystals floated down, they made a small layer of snow on the ground that instantly vanished in the summer morning heat. Even though the steam was gone, the ice bubble instantaneously melted–presumably because the jutsu was released—and in only a second, all remnants of it besides the wet grass beneath them were gone.

They stood dumb in awe at the super duper cool butt-kicking sight in front of them. Karasu had Isago slung over his shoulder with an arm to support him there; he somehow easily supported the large bulky man's weight despite his seemingly delicate frame. In his other hand, he held the man they recognized as Jinin by the front of his neck. The man's skin was red and burnt, where as Karasu looked untouched, as if he hadn't even battled. Karasu's arm hung its full length so more than half of Jinin's body was dragging on the ground as he walked towards the genin. He had a triumphant smirk on his face, sending an aura of "want to fight me now?" to the thugs. When the rest of the group saw this, they called a retreat and headed quickly out into the woods.

"OH MY KAMI!"

"OH KARASU YOU'RE SO COOL!"

"Did you see them run with their tails between their legs?!"

"How in the WORLD did you do all that?"

"YOU STILL HAVE TO TEACH US THOSE TECHNIQUES!"

"You know FIRE JUTSU too?!"

"And ICE jutsu? I have never even heard of that!"

"And how-"

"HEY! Calm down!" Karasu quickly cut off any more questions and laughed loudly. Then, he dropped Jinin to the ground and used his free hand to carefully pull Isago off his shoulder and lay him on the ground back first.

Their attention turned to Isago, spraying out another hoard of questions, "Is Isago okay?"

"How did you save him?"

"What-"

"GIVE ME A SECOND TO RESPOND!" Karasu shook his head but smiled, "Isago will be fine! He is just unconscious. I put an ice barrier around him as well as soon as Jinin was away from him."

"Oh, good."

"Yeah, I was really worried there for a minute."

"I know what you mean…"

Karasu laughed loudly, slapping his palm to his face, "Can't you two keep quiet?!"

The boys grinned sheepishly, their faces heating slightly in embarrassment. Abiru pitched out for them both, "Sorry Karasu-san."

He couldn't help but feel a spark of fondness for the pair of human kits at the sound of the affectionate nickname. His heart fluttered and basked in the feeling of acceptance that kindled in his chest. _'Maybe these kids aren't so bad.'_

Karasu couldn't hold down his genuine grin. He reached forward and placed his hands on each of their shoulders. His smile toned back down to get serious again, "Now, you both remember what I said? You can't tell anyone what I have done here. We are going to tell Isago that he got knocked out in battle or something and that we finished the thugs off. He shouldn't remember exactly what happened to him." Both boys' faces fell when they remembered they couldn't share the story.

"B-but, Karasu-saaaaaaaannn…this was so cool! Why wouldn't you want the Kazekage to know how cool you are? You could even get promoted right up to chunin! Or even a jounin! You're stronger than Isago-sensei!" Tsuchino whined loudly, pouting. Abiru made a pouting face of agreement, and they both looked up at him with big pleading eyes.

Karasu's hands dropped of the boy's shoulders, and he sighed. His hand rose to rub the back of his head, and his other hand rested on his hip as he thought. One side of his mouth drew out and his eyebrows furrowed, making another one of his very own "this is so troublesome" faces. His hands dropped back down as he sighed. "Technically, I am a wanted criminal."

There was a long pause, and the genin just blinked.

"I am wanted by the Rain village. They accused me of being the serial killer that murdered many innocent Kirigakure villagers and other villagers across the Rain country. I am in bingo books all around—almost everyone in the Rain village knows my face. If I bring too much attention to myself, they will instantly find me. That, or Suna will turn me in for the enormous bounty if they discover I'm wanted. I need to look weak; if I show off my strength they will look in to who I am and find me out. I'm running a risk even as it is coming out of hiding."

Both of the boys looked very troubled, Abiru voiced the obvious question; he spoke only a little louder than a whisper, "Did you really kill all of those people, Karasu?"

He shook his head in response, "No. They have no evidence against me, either… they have nothing sensible at least. You never know what snoops might be around, which is why I don't want you to ever talk about this battle unless you're with me and I know there is no one spying."

Tsuchino was next to voice their thoughts. He spoke quietly, looking down as he did, "Ne, Karasu-san…what will they do if they find you?"

Karasu sighed in sympathy for the boy's sadness, cocking his head slightly to the side. "Don't worry about that, Tsu'."

They both looked sadly up at him, knowing what the penalty would be. Death. Abiru looked over to his friend, nudging him to get his attention. When the boy looked over, he smiled, patting him on the shoulder. "We will just have to make sure Karasu-san doesn't get found. We will be quiet as mice, right?" Tsuchino smiled and nodded vigorously, and they both looked back to Karasu with smiles. Karasu returned the smiles with a big grin.

AN:

The thesaurus has been my best friend this chapter. LOL. I've used it to look up so many alternative words.

If you have any questions about the Japanese words I have used:

Hai= Yes in Japanese. It can sort of be agreeing too. If you watch anime subbed you will start to understand the language a bit. :D

Jinin Kurosuki, the ninja guy. I basically took two of the hidden mist swordsmen's names and smushed them together. I don't do very well at making up names, so that is why I did that XD.

Sort of on the same topic, Abiru and Tsuchino are actually sand ninja from the anime, there were a couple of the kids attacked by little Gaara with the ball and stuff. I just stole them and made them his teammates; they would be genin age after that time.

_Suiton: shihashu no jutsu_: It really means rising wave hands or something weird like that. But I decided to use it for that technique because the attack description was closer than any other water technique I could find. D: The jutsu was something Yamato used; it's like a water log thing out of your hand LOL. But let's just pretend it isn't. Just imagine one of Sasori's hand-water-jet-thing accept less concentrated and out of his mouth! 8D

When I used the sound "Ne" (another Japanese thing) in that context, it could be translated to a, "Right, right?!" or something close to that.

The genin start calling Karasu "Karasu-san" instead as a sign of respect. I like to throw in Japanese name suffixes when I write. It's a good way to show character relationship development :D.

SO! Also as I said, I drew a picture of Karassuuu! It's the first I really like that I drew of him. Beware, it's probably more around his 17's than 13's. I'll have to draw a picture of him looking younger that I like enough to show off. There is one with his hood on, and one with his hood off. I'm going to probably have colored versions up next chapter!

**If you want to see the pictures, look up "Karasu DFTR" on . I assume that you can't post any external links in your writing here. Tell me if you can't find it!** Comment on the work too if you have a DA, I really want to know what you think about how he looks. Is he how you imagined him to be? :D

I hope you all enjoyed the extra long-ness of this chapter! Don't forget to review!


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Oh goodness. I'm so happy with this story. Having people read and enjoy my crap is so cool.

I'm getting the plot all worked out in my head, it is coming along pretty well. Right now I am just struggling with what will come after this chapter during the chunin exams. I want something interesting to happen so it's not super boring and filler-y D8. I know I want to get from 'a' to 'c', I'm just trying to figure out the 'b'!

This took me so long because I took a week break from writing when I was sick! ): I still kind of am sick, but, hey, here is the chapter anyways.

Chapter 4

Isago grumbled and rolled over onto his side. He could feel warm stone underneath his body, and he could hear whispering coming from above him. He slowly blinked his eyes open to be met with the sight his three students staring expectantly at him. He quickly sat up with a start and spoke groggily, "Wha…? Boys? Where are we? Weren't we in the River country?" He gazed around himself and observed that he was in some type of cave. He leaned his back against the wall behind him and stared at the boys sitting cross-legged in front of him.

After the battle had ended, the group had traveled to the village that had requested the mission. Karasu carried their unconscious Jounin and Jinin—the thug leader—the whole way. He left Abiru with Isago outside the village, and he and Tsuchino carried Jinin into the village. They turned the man in and Karasu told the village head that Isago was recovering from the battle, but was the one who defeated the man. He also said that Jinin probably would have an inaccurate recollection of the battle, because he had been affected by his own sleeping bomb. Hopefully this would cover his ass when the idiot started blabbing that a genin had defeated him, not the Jounin of the squad.

The three spent a night at their camp without any disturbances, but decided to start home when Isago still had not woken up the next morning. Karasu assured his teammates that their sensei was okay, and lugged Isago on his shoulder out of the Rain country and into the desert. A sandstorm forced them to take cover, and here they were now.

Karasu smiled widely at Isago, and the two genin on each of his flanks matched his expression. "Oh, we were! Remember the fight? Those crappy brutes had ambushed us—there were a lot more than in the reports. Their mega-stupid boss threw a sleeping-gas bomb right into the middle of the clearing. It knocked you right out, along with half his men! That leader was a big dumb thug, so us three together took him out easily. The rest of the rouges retreated. We figured that without their leader, they would disperse and no longer be a problem. We turned their leader into the village he was tormenting, so they should have taken care of him for us. You were out cold for two days now, so we carried you back halfway the distance home. A sandstorm hit, so now we are in this cave waiting it out." All the boys grinned so innocently at him it was almost suspicious.

Quietly, he mumbled to himself, "A sleeping bomb?...Oh Kami, how was I taken down so easily?"

Karasu started up again, "You might have had some memory loss from it. It was some pretty nasty stuff." He put a flat hand up to the side of his mouth in the manner that many officials do with their bosses when not wanting their lips to be read. Karasu dropped his voice down and squinted, and did it all rather comically. His teammates giggled—all three of them enjoyed picking on their dazed teacher. He continued, "Isago, you might want to make up a little fib for the mission report. Say something like…'We were ambushed and their leader was very skilled—the guy's name was Jinin Kurosuki, by the way. It ended up being a challenge, but I defeated him and saved my genin from harm!'" They all giggled again, but it seemed Isago didn't even notice.

He nodded in agreement and sniffed the air. He put his hand over his abdomen. "Food?"

The group laughed and grinned about his 'out-of-it' condition. Abiru chirped a response, "Ah, of course! We just made food." He turned around and quickly came back with a plate of warm curry, laying it in Isago's lap. The three faced their backs to Isago while he scarfed down the food and talked in a huddle.

Abiru spoke in a hushed voice to Karasu, "So, do you think he will buy it? The sleeping bomb thing?"

Karasu nodded in reply, "Yes. And he will obviously have to lie to the Kazekage that he wasn't taken down by a sleeping bomb. So he will tell him that he actually fought him. It should line up with the reports that the River country give—that the leader was actually that strong wanted bandit. We told the villagers our leader took him down, as well. Hopefully there will be no problems. That doesn't mean you can forget about keeping your faces shut, you hear me?"

They both nodded in agreement, and then all three turned back around to their teacher with big grins. After eating a whole plate of food and recovering for a few minutes, Isago was less disoriented. He looked towards the entrance of the stone cave. The wind had died down some, and the sandstorm was over. The sand grains on the dunes still blew around, but they only got a foot or so off the ground before their weight pulled them back to earth.

To reassert his authority, Isago took charge again, "Well, soon we should start on our way back to the village," he paused, grumbling a little when he next spoke, "And, uh…don't say anything about this to anyone, okay?"

Karasu patted both of the genin on their backs, grinning, "Of course, Isago! We won't say a word. But—_eto_…I think you owe these two that dinner you promised." He could feel his quirks wriggling in his throat—right now in particular, for whatever reason. It was sort of coming on like a sneeze.

The genin, who had previously forgotten about their dinner, squealed and wiggled on the ground. They whispered to each other behind Karasu about how much they will eat and what they will get. Isago knew he would be half broke afterwards, and sighed, but he still agreed, "Right. And you too, Karasu. Thank you for taking care of those troublemakers."

'_Oh goodie, I get my dinner paid for!'_ His smile still plastered on his face, he chirped, "Oh, really, they were fine! _Arigato Gozaimasu_!" For emphasis of his thanks, his hands clapped together and he quickly bowed. Oops. There it was. Achoo?

For a moment it didn't occur to him what he just said. After a long pause, though, realization stabbed him in the face. _'FUCK! Kami, this is just too much!' _His body instantly locked in place when his mind grasped his words, still bowed down, and he looked up at Isago with an expression something like: 'Heheh—Did you just hear that? Oops.'

"What?" Isago looked positively bewildered.

Karasu sat up quickly and waved Isago off with his hand in attempted dismissal of the situation. At the same time, he laughed nervously and his other hand scratched the back of his head. "Eh-heheh. Don't worry about it."

Isago still seemed to be a little dumbstruck, because he made no further attempts to question Karasu. That, or maybe he just didn't want to push on what he could tell Karasu didn't want to talk about—he did owe him now, after all. The genin made no inquiries either (maybe for the same reasons), and instead blabbed to Isago, while Karasu quietly scurried away from the scene—mentally slapping himself the whole way—to re-seal their dinner items.

He laid a scroll he pulled from one of his pants' pockets out on the ground and activated its jutsu. It was the same type of scroll he used to carry his other things around, so like them, all he had to do was merely drop the items into the head-sized, yawning, black hole that opened up on the paper. While he did this, the two genin amused themselves by bothering their Jounin—they asked him how many fingers they were holding up, and poked questions about his paled skin and dazed eyes.

Soon enough, they were ready to go. It was beginning to turn to dusk, though in the desert, traveling at night was much better and more convenient. It wasn't nearly as scorching warm, or bright. Karasu could keep his hood down as they made their way the last 2 hours of the walk to Suna.

The moon had risen in the sky when they made it back. All though most of the villagers were asleep, it wasn't uncommon for pods to get back from missions late at night. Since this was such a usual occurrence, it had a whole protocol associated with it. Unless urgent, the team should wait until morning to report. The Kazekage has to sleep too, after all.

The three boys escorted Isago to the center of town—they were still asking him how many fingers they were holding up—before they had to split their different ways to go home for the night. Though they were not assigned a mission, Isago told them all to meet here again at 3 PM tomorrow—presumably for the dinner he promised. Karasu flashed a large grin and waved to the group before he leaped to the nearest roof.

The two genin made their way home together with smiles on their faces. Neither of them ever remembered the meeting they had planned to assess the newcomer to their group. They accepted him—without question—to be their new Rain-ninja teammate.

Karasu stopped after jumping a few roofs away and out of sight of the others who were traveling home. The boy turned back to look at the Kazekage building that they had split up in front of. He was fairly tired, after his nightmare and all that fighting and traveling, some decent sleep in a bed would be nice. But, a thought occurred to him.

'_Hmmm…I wonder…_' Taking a quick detour, he quietly scaled the tall messenger bird building he had relaxed on a few nights before. He looked out over the village, peering at the rooftops. _'Oh! Sure enough…'_ A bright red dot caught his eye; just in the place it had been a few nights earlier. _'He needs to learn to change his hang out spot after he's been discovered!'_ He giggled audibly as he leaped to bother his unsuspecting prey, feeling suddenly awake.

The red-head obviously knew he was coming, because when Karasu had landed on the roof in front of him, the cork on his gourd was already off and the sand shifted around inside. He had a bit of a welcome, this time, now didn't he?

"You aren't happy to see me? That hurts me deeply, Gaara-kun!" Karasu spoke teasingly and with sarcasm, but still cheerily and with a smile. His only response in return was a cold glare. The sand began to crawl out of the small boy's gourd, and it slithered on the ground towards either side of Karasu.

With his arms crossed, the shorter boy took a few steps towards him. He stopped when only a couple feet from him. Icy eyes met cyan, the later flashing dangerously as the small jinjuriki spoke, "You are an assassin sent by my father." The amount of emotion coming off the small aggressor was astonishing to Karasu, despite knowing him so little. Even he could tell this sort of behavior was rare. Not a good sign.

'_Assassin? By his father? His father is trying to kill him?'_ The older boy's face showed obvious confusion as he spoke, "Wha-? Who is your father?" As he asked the question, he could feel sand tickling at his ankles. Quickly, he suppressed his chakra further than it already was; if Shukaku recognized his chakra signature, he didn't know if he would try to kill him—even if it were against his host's will. He and Shukaku _really_ never got along.

The red-head scowled, "The Kazekage. Do not play dumb. No one in this village approaches me on their own free will."

'_The KAZEKAGE? Ugh, I should have asked more about this kid. I didn't know he was practically royalty. I must have picked a bad night to talk to him too, he is far angrier than the last time I talked to him. Though…'_ he looked up to the sky where the moon loomed back at him, _'It is a full moon tonight. And as long as I have been around, humans and demons alike get hot-blooded on full moon nights. That Shukaku must be reacting and riling up his poor host.'_ He looked back to the accusing glare of the smaller boy. "Well, I'm sorry to burst your bubble Gaara-kun, but I'm not any assassin. There is a first time for everything, right? I just wanted to say hi."

Gaara certainly did not seem convinced—his murderous gaze held strong. Sand began to tighten around Karasu's ankles, and then advance up his calves. _'Great. He is going to try to kill me. BOY…did I pick a bad night. I probably should have booked it before things got this far. I'm too bold for my own good…'_ He carefully attempted to reason with the demon container, "E-eh—_Matte_—Gaara, we don't want to do this. I'll leave if you like." He flinched when he slipped up in his speech. His quirks—as he called them—were very dangerous to his identity. But now wasn't the time to become unfocused over trivial matters.

The younger boys' eyes turned almost frantic with anger, and his voice rose louder than its usual low hum—it sounded strained. "Why are you not afraid? Everyone is afraid." He glared viciously.

Carefully, so that the red-head would not notice, he pushed his senses into the boy's mind. He only needed to listen for a moment; he could hear the problem for all of his agitation. The sand demon was screeching in his head, **"-MUST DIE! MAKE HIM FEAR YOU, KILL HIM, KILL HIM! KILL! KILL! KILL! GIVE ME HIS BLOOD! DO IT NOW! NOW!"** He quickly removed his conscious from the other's mind. The sound of that shrieking was almost deafening. Though, on the outside, the boy showed no signs of hearing anything. He had to have gained some kind of mental tolerance after years of that incessant screaming.

'_Maybe if I shut this stupid Shukaku up…' _He tried again to reason, "Ne, Gaara-sama…I can help you—really. Just hold still…" He reached out a hand towards Gaara's head. That was a terrible idea.

He felt a sudden overwhelming searing pain rush through every nerve of his body, and he let out a choked scream._ Man_ did this kid sure jump the gun. All of the bone and flesh in his legs below his knees was crushed by sand. He would have fallen back had it not been for the sand around his legs locking him in place. Sweat began to bead up on his face from the effort it took to hold in the pained screams raking at his throat. His breath came as strangled, uneven gasps through his clenched teeth, and they were cut short every time by small grunts of agony. After a few seconds, when the shock of the sudden pain wore off, his eyes that were previously screwed shut opened slightly.

His squinted and his blurry eyes tried to focus so he could see his attacker. His vision wavered, but it was enough for him to catch a glimpse. The look he was receiving was cooler now that the demon's screams had to have been momentarily sedated.

At a certain time in his life, he could endure pain twice as bad as this without even flinching. But, this was the most physical pain he had felt in many years; he had defiantly grown soft to it. The world was fuzzy and all of his senses felt stuffy. He could feel a growing ache in his head as he tried to form a coherent scentence. His voice came out as a desperate chocked whimper, "G-gaara-sama—_s-suimasen—onegai_…I-" He abruptly clamped shut his jaw to halt the scream that threatened to rip out from his throat. He intended to ask to be let go, but he couldn't force out any more than that pitiful squeak. Even if he were able to finish his sentence, Gaara would not have understood what he was asking; his speech impediment would have prevented that. He seemed to slip at the most inconvenient times. He tried to look the red-head in the eyes, pleading through his vision rather through words to be released.

Sure, he could fight him. If he had to, he could. But he didn't want to have to go underground for another 7 years when he was discovered by the Suna ninja. And, he didn't want to hurt this boy. He has kill thousands of humans in the past, but he could feel that he would hesitate to hurt him in a battle. Somehow he just didn't have it in him—he was basically asking for this treatment, how could he punish the red-head for his reaction? He would try to go to easy; he wouldn't be able to use his full strength. Humans, why must they always inconvenience him so?

He heard no response, but the sand around his legs loosened and fell off. He would have been surprised if it wasn't for his condition; he expected to have the rest of his body crushed too. He didn't take Gaara to be a merciful kind of guy.

He fell backwards before knowing what was happening, and hit the roof before he could catch himself. When his back made contact with the hard sandstone building, he felt his legs to the same. His vision blurred and darkened from the sheer agony. He thought he heard himself scream. As the sand bindings left, the smell of his blood filled the air. He could feel it pouring from his legs. As a result of the massive nerve damage, his legs were constantly shivering, and they also twitched and spasmed occasionally.

He forced his eyes open again, though he could still see nothing, and all he could hear was the rushing of blood in his head. _'I can't pass out…'_ He struggled, and his vision and hearing began to slowly ease back to him. He could see someone bending over, gripping their head. He couldn't tell who, he couldn't remember who—it was too hard to remember. It hurt too much to think; his head felt like it was going to explode. He made his second mistake of the night and tried to sit up. Not only did the action of sitting up that small amount squeeze his blood pressure up high enough to make him pass out, but it also caused him massive pain. Despite all of his effort, the world faded to black again as he fell back on to the sandstone roof.

He felt weak; very weak. His eyes cracked open to see the sky. The moon had hardly moved. It could have been only 10 minutes since he passed out. But he was so weak. His head turned to the side, his cheek lying on the cold sandstone. Oh, Blood. He could see a lot of blood. That would sure do it. There wasn't a direction he could look where blood was not in his line of sight.

Pain—Oh Kami was there also a lot of pain. Very slowly, he strained to sit up. Thankfully, he had recovered enough that the rush of blood in his head didn't knock him out a second time. He placed his hands behind him to hold himself up as he looked at his legs. They had stopped bleeding, but just barely in time to keep him from dying. The only reason he had survived—unlike a human, who would have been stone-cold dead by now—was because his blood itself has healing properties. So, as he bled, the wounds that were bleeding healed. His body also made more blood, at a rate about 10 or 20 times faster than a human as he was bleeding—so as a result it was harder for him to bleed out. His shattered bones had also begun to heal, but very wrongly. He stretched an arm forward and very slowly pulled up each of his pant legs. He grunted and clenched his teeth again as the fabric rubbed against his marred skin.

After very painfully moving the clothing, he held a palm above his left calve. As it hovered there, cool green tinted chakra appeared in a halo around his hand. As he passed his hand over his leg, his skin began to patch together, and his muscles slithered under his skin. The bones, which were deeper in his leg than could be seen, were also moving and shifting, reconnecting and healing in their proper positions. He repeated this same process with his right leg, each leg taking three or four minutes to fully heal. As he watched, the movement of the flesh seemed somehow familiar. Like that nightmare, maybe? He wondered if this is what that dream foretold. Sometimes, though, his mind simply wishes to torture him with awful nightmares.

He stood slowly when he was healed, though his body was still involuntarily shivering in shock. His legs felt weak, as if he hadn't stood on them in months. His pant legs were ripped and torn, and covered in blood; overall, he looked like a shivering bloody mess.

His blood had been in such a massive pool that it had begun to drain off the side of the rounded roof–rounded roofs being common for Suna's architecture. Could he leave all of this blood here? He didn't think they would care a whole lot when no one turned up missing the next day to even try to find out whose blood it was. Plus, it would take quite a lot of effort to clean all of the blood. If it were a normal village, he would use a quick water jutsu to wash it off, but hell if he knew; water could make the whole building disintegrate. He made the decision to leave it.

He turned and jumped to the roof of the next nearest building. Just as he pushed off the building, thought, his legs unexpectedly gave out under him. He grunted in frustration and his mind began to whirr for a solution; he had already jumped, but he was undershooting the next roof terribly.

Time passed in an instant, and he ran out of options. He quickly twisted his body to the side, putting himself shoulder first before he ran right into the side of the building he was aiming for, bounced off and fell flat on his back, getting the wind knocked out of him. His face scrunched in pain an aggravation—he was unable to do anything but roll to the side and curl up in a pitiful ball. He laid that way until his body stopped clenching, and he could breathe.

He turned over onto his chest and lifted himself up with his hands. He glared at the ground beneath him as he stood on his hands and knees. "_Kuso_," he spat silently at his own stupidity and weakness, and scowled at the dirt.

He didn't lose that much blood, that injury should have been nothing, the pain should have been nothing—he should be able to take this. On top of that, he completely overestimated his strength and self-control. How weak has he really become? He bared his teeth in anger at his own feebleness and punched the ground. _'Stupid quirking. Stupid humans. Maybe deciding to stop eating and killing these pathetic beings all those years ago was a bad idea! They only try to kill me, catch me, use me, and hate me in return. And, I've gone completely weak and soft. I will _not_ let this happen to myself.'_

He pushed himself off the ground forcefully, and quickly stood. He ignored as his vision blackened around the edges from still having such a lack of blood, and jumped back up to the building. Pumping chakra into his legs, he leaped off, soaring over multiple buildings at once. Call it childish, but he did not want to believe he was weak. He fumbled as he landed, but did not pause to even catch his footing before he pushed off again.

At this pace, he made it to his apartment in under a minute. He pulled his hood over his head as he entered the building, refusing to make eye contact with the person waiting at the counter. He all but stormed to his room, but he kept his movement swift and quiet. Every step felt strange, because of the weakness of his legs. It felt reminiscent of walking on air, but it also had a very weak, pathetic, and venerable feeling to it. Quickly closing the door behind him after entering, he tumbled to the side and onto his bed, lying flat on his back. He lifted the pillow from under his head and stuffed it against his face, groaning loudly into it.

Through all of his grogginess and rage, Karasu never noticed he was being observed. From a distance, a pair of cyan eyes gazed at him until he was out of sight.

After sleeping, showering, and eating, Karasu felt somewhat better the next morning. He tried not to think about how weak he had become. In the back of his mind, he made a note to train soon. '…_Use the time between missions to go blow off steam out in the desert, maybe. I mean, what else is that big expanse of nothing good for besides blowing things up and not needing to worry about damages?'_

He sat on the roof of his apartment building amongst his brooding thoughts, and sighed. He wished it were night time, so there weren't so many people on the streets. He just wanted to be away from people for a while. _'I might have to go out into the desert earlier than I thought. Damn humans. There are too many of them. No wonder I was put on this planet to kill as many of them as I could.'_

He glanced at the sun. It was about 2:30; near the time he needed to meet with the rest of his group. At least they were fairly bearable to be around. He stood and made his way roof by roof to the center of the village; he didn't use the streets whenever it was possible to avoid them. Those were the worst. It was far faster to travel by roof, but the best part was that he didn't get stared at. When he jumped above the streets he was only in view for about a half a second, most of the stupid villagers didn't even notice.

When he reached the center of the village, he perched himself on his favorite building—the messenger bird building. Maybe it was just his avian instincts, but he has always enjoyed heights and being able to see everything around from a high view. As he peered off the top of the building, he could see Isago waiting in the street. He decided against going down there early, he didn't want to talk with anyone he didn't need to at the moment.

His eyes drifted to the cloudless and dusty blue sky as his thoughts wandered aimlessly. This was kind of a depressing village. The desert outside of the village seemed to sap the life of everything was harbored in it. No one was very happy at all. Tsuchino and Abiru might be the only exceptions, along with some of the other hyper children. Was it the heat? Or was it the withering, unrelenting sun, and dryness? Maybe it was the fact that no new life enters here, and no life leaves—who in the right mind would want to move to a place like this anyways?

'_Oh, right. Me.'_ He sighed aloud, and once again found himself questioning if coming here was the right decision. They never held festivals here, either, for as long as he knew—it was practically the opposite of the Leaf village, and every other major village around. The desert could be a nice place when there weren't humans in it, but it was almost like their presence angered the desert energy's wishes for solitude. So then, it retaliated and made their lives—and the area they lived in—as miserable as possible. Ugh, humans, just the thought of them...

Troubling pictures of his past floated across his mind's eye. Damn humans, they are a bunch of weasels. A frustrated sigh passed through his lips. _'Why must I be so unfortunate? Maybe this is just the life I was cursed with the day I came to be. I have so much shit to contemplate. But it is pissing me off to do it…tch. I've got to find my happy place, Kyuubi ka?'_

He paused for a moment. Well, it had worked before hadn't it…? _'Ne, maybe that is a good idea? I could make a nice little spot for myself somewhere out in the desert. It could have a waterfall, be nice and cool, and I could get away from this horrible sunlight.'_ He sighed and mumbled airily, "_So desu ne…_"

His attention trailed back into reality as he saw his genin companions in the distance. He would have to go down to meet them all. Karasu stood on top of the building and placed his hands on his hips as he watched them greet each other. He waited until they had finished before making his quick descent. He jumped down to land on the next tallest building, and then leaped to the next, and so forth, like a set of steps, until he landed on the hard earth of the busy street.

As he approached the group, his grin wasn't quite as wide as it usually had been. His voice sounded more mellow as he spoke, compared to the perky tone his teammates had grown accustomed to. "Hey Isago-san, Abiru, Tsuchino," he addressed them all by name as greeting. Honestly, he was kind of pissy, and it was fairly obvious he wasn't in a normal mood.

The two younger boys seemed initially taken aback. That did not last for long, because Abiru quickly started up with a shout and an energetic smile, "Hey, Karasu-san! Did you hear about all that blood they found last night? They said it was enough for a man and a half to be killed, but no one has turned up missing or dead. I have been wondering what happened. Tsu' and I heard my dad talking about it. He was the one who found it early this morning on his way to the Kazekage tower! I wonder if there was a battle—do you think so? They are investigating the people near the site now to see if they saw anything. Maybe I can go ask my dad more about it when I get back from DINNER!" Abiru whipped his head and smirked at Isago on the word 'dinner'. Tsuchino was nodding during the whole monologue coming from Abiru, and his wide eyes showed his wonder over the topic.

Karasu forced himself to look slightly surprised, and he attempted to show some interest, as if he didn't already know this. His head cocked slightly to the side, and he made a thoughtful face before he responded, "_Iie_, I don't know what that could be. You would expect someone to at least be missing." He made no attempt to fight his quirking at the moment. Maybe they would just assume it was some random sound he made, rather than he was speaking a different language. He felt somewhat relieved when neither of the boys seemed to skip a beat.

Tsuchino jumped in right after his companion, "Yes! They are really suspicious for some reason; they won't let anyone on the scene! Isn't this so exciting?"

"_A-ano_, I suppose so–drama isn't my thing." He responded somewhat awkwardly and put his hands behind his head. He tagged on an apologetic smile, but his eye just barely twitched in annoyance at himself and his terrible speech impediment. _'I don't even know why I fight it. They don't seem to care. Maybe they will just leave it be, and not ask. Boy, would that be nice. …But what does he mean that they are 'really suspicious'? That doesn't sound good for me…'_ He tried not to worry himself over it.

"EHHH? Since when was drama not your thing?!"

Karasu merely rubbed the back of his head with one hand, using the other to wave the boy off. He continued to make a kind, 'sorry' smile.

"Geeze, your being so boring, Karasu-san!" Tsuchino loudly declared the obvious. Abiru nodded in agreement while crossing his arms, and then proceeded to stick his nose up into the air in a pout.

Isago shook his head and sighed, "Come on boys. I have to take you out to eat. There is an important conversation I need to have with you all when we sit down to eat."

Abiru forgot about his pouting to become excited about the prospect of food, and the apparent "surprise" to come. "OH! What is it? I want to knooowww! Tell us now!"

"Yeah, why do we have to wait? Is it something cool?"

"Tell us, Isago-sensei!"

Isago groaned loudly and face palmed.

After a hoard of excited complaining from the genin, they finally made it to a restaurant. They sat at a booth, with Isago on one side and the three boys on the other. Tsuchino was closest to the isle, and Karasu was against the 'privacy' wall with Abiru in the middle between them both. The isle that they sat by was one of the main ones, near the entrance to the restaurant; there was a fair amount of commotion by them—at least whenever a group arrived or left.

'_Ew, you can see her butt her shorts are so tiny! Those are smaller than underwear. Is she going commando? I think I'm going to puke.'_ Karasu quickly averted his eyes from one of the horribly under-clothed waitresses in the restaurant. The two genin next to him seemed rather happy to openly stare, though. He shook his head and sighed at them both. They could stare as much at those nasty slutty women for all he cared. Her legs weren't even that nice…

As Isago chattered to the genin about food and whatnot, Karasu's head slunk down to the tabletop. He rested his chin on the wooden surface—his nose was almost buried in the menu he was holding it so closely, and let out a large sigh. Abiru glanced over at the sound of his sigh, and saw the scene just described. He giggled a little; the older boy had an expression of utmost boredom on his face. His eyes were almost past the half lidded mark as they lazily scanned the menu from his low position, and his lip was popped out in such a way that gave him a bored, annoyed, and pouty look all in one. The boy's oddly colored feathery hair was in his eyes like always, and added to the look.

Abiru nudged Tsuchino, who was at his side to get his attention, and pointed at Karasu while mumbling something about the face he was making. As the menu in Karasu's hands was standing straight up, Isago, who was sitting across from his genin, couldn't see Karasu's face. He looked up from his menu when he heard the genin making a quiet fit over—from his point of view—just Karasu.

This perked Isago's interest, who then asked, "What is it?"

Abiru giggled again, and with a little slap of the menu—which proceeded to fall forward and flop onto the table—revealed Karasu's face. Karasu's head had since fallen to the side, causing his cheek to squish and add extra lack-of-excitement to the bored/tired/lazy face he was making. The genin immediately burst out in small snorts and giggles, covering their faces to try and muffle the noises. Isago raised an eyebrow and blinked.

Karasu blinked as well, although very slowly. His now mildly annoyed gaze drifted over to the laughing genin. With a loud sigh, he lifted off the table and stretched, turning his head to the snickering boys to grace them with his unchanged bored face head-on. _'Those little craps want to pick on their Karasu-san, huh? Baka yarou.'_ His voice even sounded monotone in his head.

This only succeeded in getting them to laugh more loudly, doing some leg slapping, stomach grabbing, wheezing, and rolling around in their seats. They could almost see Karasu's annoyed thoughts through his mega-lidded eyes. Isago couldn't help his own small chuckle at the comical scene. Eventually Karasu's annoyed and lazy glare finally broke, and he let out a small amused scoff. He was surprised himself that these dorks managed to cheer him up.

Tsuchino reached over and roughly slapped Karasu on the back before he loudly proclaimed, "SUCCESS!"

'_Hm. At least the food looks nice.'_ They had all ordered, and received their food after about a 15 minute wait. Fairly quick service, about the average; the food wasn't half bad either. He and Isago ate their food at a reasonable pace, but the other two ate as if they have never been fed in their entire lives. He was surprised they could eat and finish all of that food so fast, this restaurant wasn't greedy with portions either.

Abiru and Tsuchino babbled loudly when they were finished, sitting back to let their massive stomachs have room. Karasu was second to finish, and Isago was last, only a couple minuets short of him. When they were all done, Isago attempted to rein in the chattering teens. After many persistent attempts, he got their attention with, "HEY! Didn't you want to hear that super important thing? If you don't shut up you won't hear it!"

This snapped their rebellious attention into place, but their mouths did not cease, "OH, YES YES! I FORGOT!"

"WOOO! TELL US ISAGO!"

"YES!"

Isago nodded in thanks when Karasu gave both of the loud ninja each a slap on the back of their heads. They sat silently for a few seconds. It should be safe to talk. Isago opened his mouth to begin talking—but was interrupted as a loud comment flew from Abiru's mouth. "HEY ISAGO, are you going to tell us or what?"

There was a long pause…

"…YOU TWO HAVE THE MOST INCONCEIVIBLY MINUSCULE ATTENTION SPANS I HAVE EVER SEEN!" Karasu dramatically face-palmed, and then laughed loudly. The genin followed in giggles and snorts at Karasu's loud laughing, while Isago only pinched the bridge of his nose. The older boy calmed down quickly, wiping off the corners of his eyes, as they had wetted from laughter. All the near customers were staring at the group in confusion or annoyance. Karasu collected himself, "Eh-heh, sorry Isago-sensei! You twerps, shut your faces! I want to hear this too."

Isago sighed with a nod and began to speak while the genin wiggled in the booth with anticipation. "The chunin exams are in only a couple of months," Isago loudly continued over the boys' hoard of questions so they would shut up, "You both got out of the academy just this year. You're not ready."

Their excited faces dropped, and Abiru loudly whined, "AWWWWWW! Why are you even bothering telling us about it like this then?"

"Just listen. Someone has approached the Kazekage with a proposition—and I cannot speak much of it now—but, it would make the exams too dangerous for you anyways."

The genin continued to pout and whine at poor Isago, who attempted to ignore them, "But, Karasu," they abruptly stopped their complaining. Karasu looked more directly at Isago in attentive surprise, "I have yet to see your battle skills. If you are at chunin level already, I could recommend you to be automatically given the position. If so, you could then attend us to Kohona, and aid us in fulfilling this proposition, if it is indeed accepted. Soon after this meal, I will escort us all to the village gates. We will go into the desert to hold a mock life-or-death-scenario battle to test your strength. I will be your opponent."

The genin looked over at Karasu in wonder, the latter just blinked. There was a long gap before he spoke, "_H-hai_…if you really want, Isago-sensei." Again, his quirk went unnoticed and uncommented upon. _'Life or death scenario. He obviously didn't take in to account the possibility that I could be ridiculously stronger than him, and could destroy him in one attack. …Regardless, how strong should I make myself look? I could probably make myself look about a chunin level and not cause too much of a stir. Maybe I was just a mild genius back in the Rain village? I suppose if they do put surveillance on me, I can always just wait it out without looking suspicious…'_

The sensei nodded in apparent approval, "Right. We should probably get going now."

They all began to shuffle plates and such about, and sort things into piles of trash or dishes—as courtesy, or just being plain nice—with Karasu deep in thought throughout. He suddenly paused, in thoughts and all, almost dropping the plate in his hand. He didn't move to look, he didn't _dare_. He had heard a voice he recognized. He could smell something familiar. Footsteps, three sets, they were walking down the main lane of the restaurant, which happened to intersect right at their table, so the sound was getting closer.

One of the sets stopped abruptly, the others followed suit. A low but young male's voice spoke, "Ne, Gaara, what's wrong?"

He could feel his heart skip in his chest; his eyes were still glued to the table in front of him in his frozen position. He could feel murderous eyes boring in to the side of his head, a very familiar sensation. _'_SHIMATA!_ I am so stupid! I didn't even consider what would happen if I would run in to this guy again today! I DIDN'T EVEN CONSIDER THE POSSIBILITY! What am I going to do if he says 'Why aren't you dead? I crushed your legs, why are you walking?' I will be so busted!_' Sweat started to bead up on the side of his face in anxiousness, and his breath caught in his chest. He then realized it was very silent; everyone else had stopped moving as well. All of the other diners around were eating their meals in complete and utter silence; even taking care to make as little noise chewing as possible.

As he slowly turned his head, even the sound of his clothing shifting seemed deafening. His eyes locked with bright cyan. Karasu could feel how wide his eyes were, and how dumbfounded his expression was. He glanced to the right, across the table, and saw Isago was give a nervous sidelong glance to the ground of the isle. Abiru and Tsuchino were looking thoroughly horrified and shocked. Tsu' was especially so, as he was the closest to the isle and therefore the malice-filled red-head. Karasu's eyes then drifted back to the pale face of the small, glaring boy. _'Shit. Shit. Shit. Kuso. KUSO. AH, KAMI, BALLS! ...That glare is still so cute! ...NO, NO! I CAN'T GET DISTRACTED! FUCKING ASSLICKERS!'_

After the long pause, the female spoke instead this time, "We can't waste time here. Who is that?...Isn't he that stupid kid from the village gates? Gaara, we really cannot afford you killing someone right now." She paused after her questions but continued when she got no response—she didn't seem like she expected one.

Karasu didn't dare retaliate the girls 'stupid' comment, he showed no signs he even heard it. Neither did the red-head. There was another long, rather awkward and uncomfortable pause void of almost any sound. Karasu bit his bottom lip as his chest began to flutter and his heartbeat sped up in the embarrassing and extremely pressing make-or-break silence. _'This is so embarrassing…I can't be getting like this now…'_ His face started to feel warm...odd…but…

'_Agh, no!...KAMI, _KUSO KURE NO SHINE_, FACE!'_ He could see it; a light pink blush was turning red enough for him to see it on his own cheeks at the very bottom of his vision. He couldn't control himself. That adorable stare of that kid and all of this bothersome attention was too much to bear without blushing. On top of it, the stress of waiting for some sort of comment that would destroy his cover from the red-head was driving him insane.

Abiru looked uncertainly over to Isago, who only shifted uncomfortably, unsure of what to do, and obviously not ready to chance being killed. Likely in hopes that Karasu, A.K.A. the-super-cool-one-who-beat-up-all-of-those-bad-guys-and-could-protect-them-if-necessary, would know what to do, Abiru looked over his shoulder at the older boy.

Abiru's cheeks suddenly puffed up with air and he let out a small chocked sputter of a laugh. Super-cool-Karasu was BLUSHING! His face began to grow slightly red with the effort of holding in his laughter, and small wet marks appeared at the corners of his eyes.

'_Double no. GAH, KUSOOOOO!'_

Hearing the small noise, Tsuchino turned around to look as well, and then had a very similar reaction. Karasu stared at them both with an expression that read: don't-you-dare-make-a-big-deal-I'm-so-embaressed-right-now-I-will-kill-you-and-this-totally-is-not-an-okay-time-to-laugh. Abiru slapped a hand over his mouth and let out more choked sniggering, and Tsuchino threw his head back and began to silently wheeze. As Isago lifted his gaze from the floor to spot the source of all the commotion, his eyes momentarily got larger.

Now, this blushing situation wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for those two jerks' giggling. The giggles only infuriated the fire that was his face. The giggles, the staring, the impending disaster of his whole LIFE in Suna being destroyed, and on top of it, that cute little face staring at him, it was all like fuel on the fire. Like coals and GASOLINE. And…and EXPLOSIVES.

Because of this, his face was getting redder by the second—if that was possible—and the expression he was making was priceless. Like a kicked puppy that had wet the floor, who also looked ready to kill everyone. Gaara was the only one now without an expression. The woman, Temari, had an amused (but somehow still condescending) smile on her face, and the male, Kankuro, had a punkish smirk on his face.

After a very long moment of this, the genins' laughter apparently became uncontainable, as they burst out in loud hyena-laughs. Karasu scoffed in anger and annoyance, and face instantly darkened a few more shades; the redness proceeded to spread down his neck. He quickly jerked his hands up and pulled his hood over his head, and faced straight ahead at the table. The boys only laughed even louder, and proceeded to roll around in the booth in absolute bliss at the situation. All of the people around began to stare in partial-horror that Gaara may just destroy the whole restaurant in rage for the children's insolent laughter.

"_Urusai, gaki! Neboken ja-neyo!"_ Karasu spat out in an angry whisper. Yet, the boys continued on with their laughter; they wouldn't have stopped even if they had understood him.

Abiru's hysterical laughter calmed just enough to pester the hell out of Karasu between laughs, poking him in the side and loudly commenting, "NE, NE! Why are you BLUSHINNG Karasu-saaann? Does someone have a cru-" The table jerked—simultaneously to a thump sound and the clinking of plates—and Abiru suddenly interrupted himself with a loud comical yell of pain.

The accusation registered in Karasu's head instantaneously as it was flowing from his teammate's mouth. His jaw had dropped to match his face of indignant shock, and he had promptly stomped on the younger boy's foot. He now whipped his head to bore an angry glare between the boy's eyes, who now had lifted his foot from under the table to rub it while he whined. "OWW, why did you have to do thhhaatt?"

This scene only caused Tsuchino to laugh and wheeze again. He put a hand on the table for support as doubled over to laugh in his seat. Between gasps and laughs, he began to make his own mistake of poking fun at his teammate, "SO IS THAT A YES, KARAS-"

Karasu reached past Abiru with a closed fist, and slammed it down on the fingers of the laughing boy. He followed the same pattern as Abiru: cutting off, whining, and cradling his respective injured appendage. After teaching his young companions a lesson, Karasu placed a hand over his nose and cheeks—which were still burning a bright red—and used the other hand to pull his hood further forward.

Temari became his saving grace, as she announced (though she seemed amused enough to otherwise let this continue), "I think it would be best if we were going. We are going to be late for our important meeting. Gaara, just ignore it." The red-head stood in place for a moment longer before silently turning and walking away. The siblings followed him, and when they were out of sight, Karasu sighed in relief.

He pulled his hood back down to his shoulders, and leaned into the booth in an attempt to relax. When he spoke, his blush had diminished, leaving an extremely annoyed glare in its place. "Ne, I didn't break anything, did I?" He looked at the genin next to him as he said this, who both responded with pouts.

"WELL, take a look!" Abiru retaliated, and shoved his injured foot in Karasu's face, stopping it an inch away from his nose. He had taken off his sandal by now when he was inspecting his foot.

The foot-violated boy made a 'grossed-out' face, "I didn't ask to smell your foot, _gaki_. Set that thing down."

Abiru huffed and plopped his foot on the booth. Karasu had to shift into a somewhat uncomfortable position to face Abiru's foot, because of the cramped conditions. He reached his right hand down, and the same chakra glow appeared in a halo around his hand. It dissipated after only a second, and Karasu used his other hand to pat Abiru on the shoulder with a smile. "Well, what do you know; I managed to break your foot!" The younger boy first looked comically angry, and as he stuck out his tongue; Karasu laughed loudly.

"FIX IT!"

"Ahhhh, _hai, hai_…" Karasu waved him off with his left hand. The glow around his right only re-appeared for a few seconds, before it again vanished. "There you go. It wasn't much, just a little chip off your bone. You deserved it, you're lucky I healed you! Next time, don't make an ass out of me." Karasu chuckled again as Abiru loudly huffed.

He then reached his hand to Tsuchino's, grinning a little, "I should check you too."

He repeated the process with Tsuchino, but found that he had avoided breaking anything. He only partially healed the bruising on both boys; he wanted these two to remember not to try this again.

"Karasu-saaan, my hand still hurts."

"My foot too!"

"Hey now, I'm not a miracle worker; I can't heal everything." _'Lies. You both will remember this for a few days! Muahahaha!'_ He grinned widely.

AN:

This chapter got long as piss, so I had to cut it short! Sorry not a whole lot happened in this one. I am probably going to do a small edit on my first chapter, change some dialogue and stuff; because now when I re-read it I see a lot of mistakes. It being the first chapter and all, it needs to be interesting to draw in viewers!

Don't forget to tell me what you thought of this chapter! I will upload if I get a couple of reviews on this chapter. Or when I darned feel like it otherwise 8(.

I know I used a ton of Japanese in this chapter, but probably won't use many full Japanese sentences in the near future. I would rather have it sound awkward than to do it wrong.

So, who's ready for a SUPER LONG DEFINITION LIST? 3! These are all Japanese terms. Please correct me if I make any mistakes. Also, please tell me if there is anything I missed or that's out of order. They should all be in order that they appeared in the story. I would hope you all know suffixes like "sama" or "san", but if a lot of you don't, tell me and I will define those here too.** This is all done by my knowledge and research, no need to cook me if I make a mistake. :)**

_Eto:_ Eh, um, ah, uh, all of that stuff.

_Arigato Gozaimasu:_ A very polite way to say 'Thank you very much.'

_Suimasen:_ I'm sorry, basically. It can be used some other ways, but that is the most of it.

_Onegai/ onegai shimasu:_ 'Please'/ the polite version of it. (Unlike _kudasai_, which can only be used at the end of a sentence, this can be used as a standalone thing. From what I've gathered.)

_Kuso:_ Literally means, 'shit' (like poop shit), but it also is like damn it. :)

_Ka:_ When Karasu says, "Kyuubi ka?" with the context of the sentence, it would mean something like, "right, Kyuubi?" 'Ka' is a particle of sorts put at the end of a sentence to insinuate a question. This use could be completely and utterly wrong, as I just pulled it out of my ass, so please, a professional preferably, tell me if that is an okay use?

_So desu ne:_ "It is, isn't it?" is the most common translation. In this context, if I were to elaborate, it means something like, "Ahh, that is a good idea, isn't it?"

_Iie:_ No. Not exclusively, but that's the concept.

_Ano:_ Um, uh, well, eh; that sort of stuff. While on that topic, 'Ne' means something more like 'hey' (when used alone).

_Baka yarou:_ Stupid bastard.

_Hai:_ I have heard two things. One, that it just means 'yes.' But I have also heard that it actually means something more like, 'Right.' More specifically, like, 'I hear and understand what you're saying,' or, 'I get it.'

_Shimata: _Shit!

_Kuso kure no shine (Koo-sou koo-rea no shii-nay):_ 'Eat shit and die.' 8D Not sure how reliable that phrase wording is, but from what I know, it's fairly accurate.

_Neboken ja-neyo:_ Same as the previous, I'm not too sure how reliable this is, but it's supposed to be equivalent to, "Get your head out of your ass." Lulz.

_Urusei:_ Shut up. It literally means, 'noisy,' but if you loudly exclaimed, "NOISY!" to someone who was talking too much, you can see how it could mean to shut up. Urusei and urusai are basically the same, but 'urusei' is the more male/tom-girl/less cute more serious way to say it. Both are correct.

_Gaki:_ Brat. A _gaki_ is literally a monster that never stops eating. But, a lot of parents call their kids 'gaki', so it ends up being used and meaning something similar to brat.

There you go! Long, right? Well, I am tired as shit, so I'm going to go to bed! Hope you like the chapter! Tell me if I made any mistakes :).


	5. Chapter 5

Sorry for the long break, everyone! I had a month-long visit with my boyfriend, which of that time I was totally out of commission for writing. But now I'm back on the wonderful writing horse, listening to _Butterfly- Crazytown_ on repeat!

**You might want to re-read the first chapter, if not all the previous four. I did a lot of re-writing, mostly on the first chapter, but at least some on the others.**

**Also, I realize now I have been spelling "Jounin" wrong this whole time. THANKS FOR MENTIONING IT THE LAST FOUR CHAPTERS GUYYSSS D8. Just kidding. LOL. Next time I update previous chapters that will be fixed.**

Either way, here is the next chapter! –Insert cheer here-

Chapter 5

Karasu shifted nervously on his feet. He was standing at the village pass with the rest of his team, preparing for a mock-battle with the Jounin, Isago. _'How strong should I make myself? Do I really want to be chunin-worthy? I don't want to be defeated horribly and humiliated though; that would sure hurt my pride.'_ Karasu pondered in his head, his face becoming strained as he did so. He sighed. Surely, he will have to reduce his chakra level lower than usual operating level and seal the unused parts. If he left that chakra unsealed, his body would draw from it, causing him to not become tired. It would be odd if he showed no signs of fatigue through a battle with a Jounin.

Isago signaled, and the group walked out of the village and into the desert; it was far too bright as always out there. He glared at the sun, as if that would make it discontinue its shining, and lifted his hood over his head. Tsuchino and Abiru were babbling loudly to each other as they all walked from the village. Abiru had a slight limp to his perky gate—which was extremely amusing to Karasu—and Tsuchino regularly rubbed his hand and winced—which was also extremely amusing to him. Maybe next time they won't want to pick on him.

Karasu cast an indifferent look over his shoulder at the genin, trying to look unsuspicious, and then peered ahead of him at Isago. They all seemed sufficiently distracted. His hands dropped from the back of his head, and then slipped into his cloak. He discretely formed a sign—with his fists closed and knuckles pressed together—and closed his eyes in concentration. He's had practice walking with closed eyes, so he could do this without worry. Is that weird? Eh, either way…being a chunin-level ninja wouldn't hurt. As long as he made it fast, nothing should go wrong.

'_I should be able to pull this off without falling flat on my face. …I suppose getting promoted to chunin wouldn't be half bad—then I could see what this 'proposition' is all about.'_

Making his final decision, out of his whole chakra mass, he compressed and then sealed 99.9% of it. It would be out of his use entirely until he unsealed it. It is a risky trick considering that he needs chakra to _un_seal the rest of his chakra.

The 0.1% of chakra left should be equal to that of about a Jounin-level ninja or slightly above; he will have some to spare if he is going to act chunin-level. You know, so he can _unseal _his chakra right after the fight. He decompressed his remaining chakra to that of the density level of a human's chakra. This way, he can more easily use chakra in weaker, less concentrated attacks that a chunin might use. His normal chakra is already extremely dense compared to a human's, and even most others like him, which was why his attacks are so high-power.

He swallowed nervously after completing the seal, replacing his hands to the back of his head and re-opening his eyes. He had checked to make sure there were no ninja observing him for this fight, but it still made him nervous. He could be taken down and captured for shipping to the Rain village easily in this chakra-sealed state. _Especially_ if something were to go wrong.

They stopped about two miles from Suna. The village was still easily in sight, since there is nothing in the desert capable of blocking your view, but it was far enough away that they wouldn't disturb it. Isago spoke to the genin, saying something about where they should stand, but Karasu didn't hear much of it. The older boy was too consumed in his own thoughts to hear what they were saying. Something felt wrong. His chest was clenching nervously, the same way it was before the bandit-incident.

'_Kami, I hope, hope, HOPE nothing goes wrong. This could seriously screw me over. Ugh, why must I walk such a fine line of make or break in this village?...All this stress is going to give me wrinkles…'_ Karasu audibly sighed, closing his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose; he felt a headache coming on. He looked up and opened his eyes when he felt Isago looking at him. He apparently had finished his safety monologue with the genin.

Isago could see the nervousness in Karasu's face, as he said, "Don't be nervous; I won't hurt you. This is a strictly mock battle, nothing I do will be deadly; just do your best to attack me. I will be standing over there, just stand across from me before we start," in a kind voice. It was nice of him and all, but he greatly misinterpreted the source of the ninja's nervousness.

Karasu briskly nodded in response to Isago; it was best to let him think that was the case. Isago then patted him on the shoulder once before turning and walking to his post for the fight. Karasu followed suit, turning and walking to a spot about 20 meters from where the Jounin was now standing. As he was walking, he glanced in the genins' direction. Probably on order from Isago, they were stationed far away from even the remote possibility of harm. He could see them talking excitedly to each other, even over the huge distance, from their so-like-them exuberance. Strangely, they looked like they were plotting something. Karasu sighed and shook his head, then looked straight forward again as he mentally prepped himself.

'_It will be okay. Don't freak out. Your gut was right last time, but maybe not this time. Just…make the battle quick, get it over with so the window of possibility for problems is minimal. Breathe.'_ He turned to face Isago, breathing in deeply and releasing the breath while pushing his hands down the front of his body. He learned this trick many years ago when he was on his 'Quest to Become Less Vicious!' (As Kyuubi called it…that bastard.) It works pretty well, actually, to keep calm.

Karasu fell into his fighting stance after calming himself some. The bad feeling still lingered, but at least now he could think enough to fight. He saw Isago get into stance as well. There was a short pause before—well…he realized he didn't know when to start the fight. Was Isago going to say something? Maybe he shou-

"BEEGGINNN!" Karasu whipped his head to the side at the faint sounds of screaming to see both of the boys' hand-signaling and screaming in synch for the match to begin. He sighed loudly. So that's what they were plotting over there.

Quickly, he focused back on the fight. He lowered his hood to his shoulders as he calculated his first move. Isago was distracted by his genin's fooling around, and he was chastising them as loudly and obviously as he could to get the message to them. Karasu took this chance to attack. He darted forward and off to the right, he cleared the distance to his team leader in seconds.

Isago gathered himself from his distraction to instantly turn to face Karasu, who was coming head on at him from his left, and was ready to strike. In response, Isago held up his arms to block the oncoming attack. But, just moments before it looked like the punch would connect, Karasu suddenly dove down, spinning onto his back, and he skid right through the space between Isago's legs.

His hands flashed as he shouted out, "_Suiton: Mizurappa no jutsu!_" then, after he inhaling deeply, he shot out a large chakra-filled bullet of water directly at the Jounin's back. Isago grunted in surprise and hurriedly pushed off the ground to avoid the attack. The blast of water burst in the air seconds later after missing its target.

Isago landed, quickly turning to face his opponent, taking his own turn to use a jutsu, making hand signs and calling out, "_Fuuton: Daitoppa no jutsu!_" His feet planted firmly into the sand as he blew whipping wind in Karasu's direction. The boy quickly responded by pulling his hood over his face and flattening out chest-first on the ground. His cloak flapped viciously in the strong wind, the friction of its large surface area causing him to skid backwards along the sand. In just a few seconds, the gale had carved a huge basin of sand out behind Karasu, at least 20 feet deep.

He glanced behind him at the valley in the sand. Instantly, he decided to take advantage of his surroundings. Just as the wind subsided, still flat on the ground, Karasu barked out another jutsu, "_Sution: Bakusui Shouha!"_ Water flooded from his mouth and rushed towards his Jounin. Isago stumbled in the force of the floodwater rapidly climbing up his legs. In seconds it was past his chest, lifting his feet off the sand. He attempted to control his chakra to stand on the surface of the water, but suddenly, all the water around him changed directions. The water that was previously flowing towards him slowed and then began its torrent in the opposite direction, right into the large basin that Isago himself had made. His student had completely disappeared from his sight now, swallowed by the waves.

The sound of roaring water was overwhelming, filling the Jounin's ears both above and below the water. He fought with the enormous power of the water until he was finally able to pull himself to the surface. Dripping, he lowered his body to keep his balance on the small turbulent lake. He surveyed around himself in a circle, searching for his opponent. He could see the water level still sloshing higher and higher every second, clawing its way up the sand walls. It finally stopped rising just at the cusp of the basin. Isago knew he was at a disadvantage now, being in his student's domain, but he also knew that this lake wouldn't last long in a desert.

Karasu stood at the bottom of the lake, looking up at Isago's feet from underwater. He felt strangely lightheaded and tingly, as if he were running low on chakra already. _'I know my chakra-sensing is out of practice, but I know that's impossible. I have hardly used any jutsu; I have to be imagining it. I don't have time to _really_ check anyways.'_ After finishing his thought, he pushed off the lakebed with his legs and swiftly cut through the water using his chakra to the surface.

The waves were still violently churning, giving Isago a hard time trying to balance on them. Without warning, Isago heard a splash behind him, and then the whizzing sound of projectiles. He whipped around and was met with the sight of Karasu in the air and kunai flying straight at his legs. The Jounin instinctually leapt backwards to avoid the weapons.

'_Perfect!'_

Karasu now stood on the surface of the water, soaking from just jumping out of the water for his surprise attack. Quickly, he swung his arms in an upward motion. Isago looked down in surprise when the water beneath his feet came to life chased up after him like a hungry animal. Unable to evade in mid-air, the Jounin's feet and calves became wrapped in water. As soon as the water captured his sensei's legs, Karasu clenched his fists at the top of his arm-swing. Isago immediately jerked to a halt in mid jump. The water around his legs had spontaneously frozen, encasing them in ice. As he was suspended in the air, Karasu threw a speedy volley of kunai one by one at the Sand ninja.

Taking in a swift breath, Isago shot a ball of air from his mouth at the kunai, which deflected and spiraled off in every direction on contact. Then, before Karasu was able to attack again, he shot a second blast of air at his feet; shattering the ice and allowing him to land nimbly back on the water.

Karasu's eyes squinted slightly in annoyance. The water filled sand basin would dry up very quickly in this weather; he could feel that about a fourth of the water had already seeped into the porous sand in only this last minute. Cutting the chakra to his feet, he plunged down, returning to the water beneath him.

'_The water level is a good 15 feet deep, but it is declining fast. I have to make this quick.'_ Flipping onto his back under the water, he reached forward and then, gripping the space in front of him, pulled his hands back to his chest. As he did this, the water opened right under Isago's feet, creating suction, and pulled him down to the very bottom of the small lake. Isago didn't fight the pull of the water and simply stood on the lake-floor, ready to defend.

Karasu made an x-shaped slicing movement with his arms in the water. As he repeated the movement, small ice-cicles formed in the water, and shot forward when they were fully formed. Isago quickly pulled a kunai from his side pocket and deflected the projectiles. Karasu scowled again, this was beginning to get frustrating. The lightheaded feeling was persisting, returning after every jutsu he used. What a time to be inflicted with a strange illness. He knew he had already used at least a fourth of his chakra, but he had gotten nowhere. Summoning the water to make the lake took a lot out of him. He would have to try engaging his sensei head on in some under-water hand-to-hand combat. He was frankly running out of choices.

He propelled himself forward through the water using his chakra, his arms slicked to his sides. When he got within range, he whipped a pair of kunai out, one in each hand, and swung at Isago. The man had already pulled out a kunai of his own, blocking the swipes of the other's knife with his. Karasu's muscles felt weak as he sliced at the water, like he was lacking energy. In frustration, Karasu swung his right leg at Isago's side, cutting through the water with his chakra to make the kick fast and actually effective. Using his free hand, Isago blocked the kick and then held onto Karasu's leg tightly.

The boy's eyes widened as the Jounin quickly formed hand signs, and then, point-blank, shot a quick and concentrated blast of air at his chest. The sound of his yell at impact could be heard even underwater over all the noise of the bubbles and energy mingling after the attack. His head was whipped back with the force, and Isago was pulled forward a foot in the water since he was still holding on to his students leg when he shot the attack. The air was knocked right out of the boy contact, creating the noise of his yell. After he exhaled, though, his body involuntarily sucked up two lungfuls of water in its attempt to replace the air lost.

'_Kuso! I can't breathe under water with this level of chakra!'_ Karasu twisted his leg in the Jounin's grasp, wrenching it from side to side in an attempt to break free. The oxygen in his blood would only last him so long.

Isago let go of his student, who quickly flipped over and shot up to the surface, which was now just a couple feet above their heads. He was lucky he was fighting a friend; otherwise he would have been in trouble. As soon as Karasu broke through the water to open air, he in took as much air as there was room for in his lungs and coughed up water in handfuls at a time. His feet touched the bottom of the artificial lake after just seconds of this, the water already draining down enough for him to stand. His breathing still sounded raspy when he got into fighting stance to face Isago, who now also was standing in stance in the draining lake. He knew he hadn't gotten out all of the water from his lungs, but it would have to do for now.

Now that Isago had the dominant playing field again, he was able to take a fresh breath of air to attack. "_Fuuton: Daitoppa no jutsu!"_ He used the same wind-jutsu from earlier, the one that carved this basin to start with. The water now around their chests suddenly looked like the surface of a small ocean during a hurricane. The wind whipped the water up into large swells, forcing the water to press against the inside of the basin. Karasu scrunched his eyes and crossed his arms in front of him as the wind hit him, his teeth bared in the strain of fighting the sheer power of the wind. The force sent him flying back in the water, skidding upwards and out of it, and then slamming into the dune of wet sand behind him. The Jounin was getting the better of him now.

The air was knocked out of him a second time as his back hit the water-hardened sand. Lowering his arms and opening his eyes, his vision was suddenly blurry and black around the edges. The light-headed feeling from earlier had intensified to dizziness. He roughly closed his eyes for a moment and rubbed his temples with his palms. He opened his eyes again in a squint to find his vision had returned and the dizziness subsided.

He pressed a hand to his forehead, chastising himself, _'…Keep it together, Karasu. You have to focus.'_

Regaining his composure, he stood on the steep slope and began to leap to the top of the sheer dune. Isago stood looking up at him in the now calf-high large water puddle, poised in fighting stance. The older man leaned forward and pushed of the ground, clearing the distance to his opponent in one leap. His kunai from earlier still in hand, he swung at Karasu. Quickly, Karasu dodged off to the right and began running, circling the edge of the steep wet sand slopes that were where the previous water level was.

"_Suiton: Mizurappa no jutsu!"_ In quick succession, Karasu spit three water balls at the Jounin as he was running, and then jumped off the near-vertical wet-sand slope towards the center of the large puddle.

Immediately, his vision went dark, his body went limp in the air, and his eyes rolled back into his head. He could vaguely hear the exploding sound of the water from his attack. He felt his side crash into the ground and he could hear the sound of the splash as he slammed into the inch-high water at the bottom of the basin. His limp, weak body jerked from the concussion.

His mind was barely holding on; he was fighting to stay awake. He feebly lifted a hand to his head where it was now throbbing and moaned in pain. The wet sand underneath him felt like it was tilting, like his whole world was turning on its side. The sensation of the tilting would constantly shift, causing him to feel like he was going to fall off the world in a different direction. The pain all around his body from the fight hit him as his consciousness seeped back into his mind. His vision began to return from complete black, but he was legally blind at best. He could see a distorted shape moving in front of him; there was a muffled voice coming from it. 'Are you okay?' He barely understood the words as he heard them. He didn't have the strength to respond.

He could feel his body leave the wet sand as a pair of arms lifted him. As he was moved from his side to his back, the sun had a direct path to his eyes. The blinding light made his head screech in pain, like knives were suddenly cutting his skull. His half-lidded eyes snapped shut and he moaned again, more loudly this time. His head weakly flopped to the side and into something solid in his attempt to shoo away the intense light. He could hear more voices, but they all seemed very distant, and as they talked, it was like they were walking away from him. They were quiet and muffled under the gentle roar of the blood between his ears, even though they sounded like they were shouting.

He could feel himself bobbing up and down; Isago was probably carrying him back to the village. He wished that he could not look like such an idiot and walk himself. It felt like a few minutes passed before he could hear more muffled sound. Since his chakra regenerates quickly, he began to have more feeling in his arms and legs, and the bizarre feeling of the world shifting ebbed. But, his head was still pounding, and he was still extremely sensitive to light at sound. As he started to come to, he blinked his eyes slowly open.

His vision was instantly met with the blurry face of Abiru, speaking much louder than necessary, "KARASU-SAN! Are you okay? You just passed out in the middle of the battle!"

His eyes shut tightly as pain shot through his head from the kid's loud yelling. He spoke softly but in a clearly annoyed tone, "_Urusai._" He drawled out and emphasized the word to try and get his point across for the genin to shut it.

"Huh? I didn't hear you! Speak louder!" His face got closer, turning his ear to Karasu's mouth. He could see Tsuchino's face crawl into his vision as well, straining to hear.

Karasu's head continued to pound as his teammate didn't seem to understand the fact that he had a killer headache. His mumble was slightly louder, and even more annoyed now from the pain, "_Urusai, baka!"_

"Uhhh. I don't get it."

'_Oh. Right. He doesn't understand that.'_ Karasu loudly groaned while he pulled his hood over his eyes, and turned his head into his carrier's sturdy chest. All of this prodding had very unwelcomingly pulled him from his half-conscious state of mind. He was now fully alert and feeling all of his pain.

"No, no, Karasu-san, tell us!"

His headache throbbed particularly painfully. He whipped his head to look at the genin, gave them a furious look, and screamed, "YOU ARE TOO LOUD, AND I HAVE A MIGRAINE. SHUT YOUR FACES." The boys both just about jumped out of their skin at the sudden outburst. His glowy eyes were very startling sometimes…

Isago, who had been talking to a guard ninja about what happened to his student, turned to address his genin, "Now, boys, leave him alo-"

"Ohoho, who's in the bad mood over here?" A low male voice interrupted Isago.

'_Weird, I feel like I recognize that voice from somewhere…'_

A female voice responded to the male's comment, "Kankuro, don't get into other people's business."

'…_MY DAMN LUCK.'_

The genin were suddenly very quiet, and they shifted around to the other side of Isago, away from Kankuro's voice. Karasu had a pretty good guess why. _Gaara_ was with those two, his siblings. He could feel the red-head's menacing eyes drilling into his skull.

Kankuro's footsteps got closer, peering at the body in Isago's arms for a few seconds. Temari shook her head and sighed, unable to control her younger brother's urge to bother any person he could. Kankuro suddenly laughed loudly and obnoxiously crooned, "Oh! I would recognize that stupid cloak anywhere. You're that new Rain village punk. Did'ya get beaten up on a mission already? Aww. Too bad. Just snuggle up to your Jounin and you'll be _fin-"_

There was a sudden flash of movement and then Kankuro roared loudly, grabbed at his nose, and fell onto his back. Karasu had flipped out of his Jounin's arms and was now standing with his eyes squinted angrily. His face was bright red from anger and embarrassment, and he was breathing heavily. He had just punched Kankuro square in the face on his way out of Isago's arms.

Temari giggled, and then gave Kankuro a sassy look with her hand on her hip. "Well, looks like the 'Stupid New Rain Village Punk' just broke your nose."

Kankuro huffed loudly, lifted himself up, and indignantly shouted, "Quiet Temari!" His attention then turned to Karasu, who was slightly hunched forward and making direct, angry, and provoking eye-contact with him. "And _YOU._ COME HERE."

Kankuro leapt forward, returning Karasu's previous punch right into the boy's jaw. Karasu's head flew back from the force before he whipped it forward again and deeply growled. He swung his left leg at Kankuro's side, using the same technique he did in the water to cut through the air with his chakra and add extra speed and power to his kick. Evidently, Kankuro was not as skilled as Isago, since the kick immediately connected and sent him flying into the counter of one of the nearby shops lining the main village street.

Karasu stood straight, huffing loudly with his nose slightly upturned, simultaneously crossing his arms. His face was still slightly reddened, but he managed to give that purple-faced idiot an aloof stare. He discretely cast a side-long glance to look for the read-head he knew to be present. He could see the said boy standing under the shadow of a shop, glowering at everyone in his vicinity. He raised his eyebrows in amusement and then looked back at Kankuro, changing his face to be adorned in the most condescending look he could muster.

Temari had begun to laugh loudly, covering her mouth as she did so. She shouted over to Kankuro who was groaning and standing up from the shop counter he crashed into, "You're the son of the Kazekage, and you're being beaten up by an ill genin?"

She curled up over herself, giggling louder as Kankuro growled angrily at her comment. He shouted back, "IT WONT BE THAT WAY FOR LONG!" both at his sister, and judging by the way he directed a furious look at the other boy as he spoke, to Karasu as well.

Isago, the man he was talking to, and his two students didn't make any moves to stop the fight. Gaara was too close to try and risk doing anything; plus he looked like he was in a very bad mood. They made the right choice. Gaara would indeed have been very displeased with anyone who would stop the fight. This fight would hopefully give him the resulting action he had been craving—or forced to crave, for the last few days.

As soon as Kankuro stood and unhooked his clothing from the splintered wood of the shop counter, he charged forward at Karasu. He swung his right fist, and Karasu nimbly dodged. He threw several more punches, getting increasingly frustrated as his opponent dodged every one. Karasu ducked down to avoid one particular hit, and as he was near the ground, he swung his leg, swiping Kankuro off his feet and causing him to fall ass-first onto the ground.

Temari began laughing again, mocking Kankuro some more for shaming the Kazekage and their family. His face quickly became bright red in anger, the color oddly contrasting his purple face paint. He abruptly stood up, roaring loudly as he began swinging at the other boy again. His punches were coming faster this time, and as Karasu dodged, he could feel his weak body starting to give out on him.

Eventually, he slipped. His body faltered; he couldn't dodge one of the punches fast enough. Kankuro nailed him in the center of his chest, and then, while he had the advantage of Karasu recoiling, he swung his left leg, hitting the other boy in the rib cage. He was knocked off to the right and fell on his side, skidding across the width of the street.

Karasu clutched his side, groaning. Something had defiantly snapped when he was kicked. As he took in a breath and started to lift himself up, he suddenly locked in place, his eyes screwed shut in pain. Breathing was very, very painful. He could also feel a tickling in his throat, like he needed to cough. Shakily, he stood up and got into stance, not ready to give the fight up yet.

"Come on, Kankuro, that's enough. You got your hit in. We are going to be late." Temari's amusement had dissipated some, apparently remembering they had to be somewhere. She had probably gotten sick of the fight now that her brother wasn't getting his ass handed to him, also.

Kankuro turned around to face her, loudly protesting, "But I'm not done with this brat yet! No one messes with me and gets away with it! Do you want my reputation ruined?"

Temari sighed loudly, planting her hands on her hips. "Look, I couldn't care less about your reputation. And you have done plenty of damage already." Temari nodded over in the Rain-ninja's direction.

Kankuro turned his head with a glare to look at what Temari was pointing out. His face turned slightly confused and he cocked his head to the side while squinting. Glancing to the right, Karasu could also see Isago and the two genin now gazing at him as well.

Karasu blinked, looking down at his chest to see what everyone was staring at. His eyebrows rose slightly. No wonder that punch hurt so much. His whole front of his normally light-grey shirt was bright red; it was completely soaked in blood. He carefully straightened from his fighting stance and lifted his shirt to peer at his chest. Most of his chest was purple and bruised, and at the center where the punch connected, his skin was split in a huge gash.

'_Oh, great. I suppose the bruising must be from that attack of Isago's. It was at point blank after all…apparently, since my skin was swollen already, his punch split it. …Bah, I can give this brat a good whipping anyways! A little blood loss never hurt me. Right? Eheh, yeah…'_ Karasu blinked at the end of his thoughts, and then dropped his shirt back down. His shoulders lifted and dropped visibly in an indifferent shrug.

"OH, SO YOU'RE GOING TO TRY TO BE A TOUGH GUY?" Kankuro was getting red again. He briskly walked forward and stopped just barely an inch from Karasu's chest. He used his superior height to try to intimidate his new rival. He held his face too close for Karasu's comfort as he growled, "Don't you _dare_ make a fool of me again. I'm sure you know the Kazekage is my father. I could get you kicked out of here in a second."

Karasu narrowed his eyes and held Kankuro's gaze. As the stare-down dragged on, the tickling in his throat gradually became almost maddening, but by Kami did he _not_ want to cough. It would hurt so incredibly bad with this pain in his lungs, and he would make a fool of himself in front of everyone whimpering over it like a little baby. He bit his bottom lip, huffing slightly as the cough tried to force itself out. It was getting very difficult to breathe, like his lungs were shrinking. On top of it, he already could only breathe in tiny little pants, as it hurt so much to take a full breath. Why did he have to be so sensitive to pain? Now, of all times in his life?

Kankuro broke the gaze for a moment to look the other boy up and down, giving him a cross between a disgusted and aloof look, "Don't you dare ignore me. What's your problem? Why are you breathing that way?" He asked the question in the most manly and purely inquiring way as possible while trying to make it seem like he _wasn't_ interested to hear the answer.

Karasu's glare held and his eyes swiveled between the each of the older boy's eyes in a challenging glare. He didn't want to show any weakness by not saying something, but the cough was threatening to burst from his throat the moment he opened his mouth. He resolved to give as quick and short a response as possible, "None of your buisne-" Not a moment after he attempted to make his quick rebuttal, his unusually strained voice cut itself off. Karasu's jaw quickly snapped shut while he simultaneously faced sideward. Bending over and shaking, he gripped his right side and began to cough violently through his teeth. The coughing sounded more like hacking, such as what one might expect to hear from a patient with severe pneumonia. Only seconds into the coughing, blood began leaking from between his teeth and splattered—in fairly large amounts—onto the ground. Kankuro stood, rather dumbfounded, through this whole scene.

Tsuchino, who was hiding behind Isago, along with Abiru, peeked around his human shield and called out just loud enough for Karasu to hear in a timid voice, "K-karasu-san, a-are you okay?"

Karasu turned his head at the call of his name but quickly turned away again as another cough wracked his body, forcing up more blood from his lungs. Kankuro stood, bewildered at what was going on. He gazed around him in his confusion, stopping suddenly when he caught sight of Temari angrily stalking over to him. Kankuro smiled anxiously and held a hand up in front of him defensively, then used the other one to rub the back of his head. "H-hey Temari. Something wrong?"

"YES, SOMETHING IS WRONG!" Temari swiftly slapped Kankuro across the head before continuing, "WHAT is FATHER going to think about this? If you end up killing a fellow villager, _regardless_ of who it is, you'll get in huge trouble! BOTH of my brothers will be murderers!" Kankuro laughed nervously, rubbing his head now in the spot that his sister just whacked, his hand that was up in defense drooped in defeat.

Temari put her palm against her face for a few moments to accentuate her anger, then swiftly whipped it back down where it lay stiff at her side, balled into a fist. She walked briskly over to Isago, and spoke formally and stiffly, "I'm sorry about my brother. You're going to want to get your student to the hospital soon. _I'll have a talk with Kankuro later._" She said the last part with an extra dose of her uniquely-her-own cold venom, and looked over her shoulder to glare and her brother, who nervously laughed again.

Temari walked over to where Karasu stood, bent over himself, groaning in pain. She grabbed him by his upper arm, obviously not feeling obliged to be sensitive, and lead him over to his sensei. She helped him along most likely for the sole reason that he would no longer be standing in the middle of the street, bleeding all over the place. Said bleeding boy looked up at her with a strained face when she gripped his arm, but didn't protest as he was lead across the road. Rather, he _couldn't_ protest, but that was irrelevant…

Gaara, who had been motionless and expressionless until now seemed to take a strange interest in the scene when copious amounts of blood had come into the picture. His eyes followed the source of the blood as his sister led it across the road. He saw her say a few quick words to the Jounin before she stalked back to Kankuro, grabbing him roughly by the ear and pulling him along, Kankuro whining in the process.

"Come on, Gaara. We need to meet Baki at the gate." She addressed him when she got close enough, "Just give me a second with your _brother._" Kankuro smiled innocently.

Karasu closed his eyes, sighing shakily, and crossed his hand over to his right side while he waited for Isago, who was hurriedly finishing his conversation with the man from earlier. A green glow appeared around his hand when it made contact. He quickly found the problem; his lung had been punctured by his own broken rib when he was kicked by that purple-faced asshole. Karasu's head was a murky fog as his low chakra levels drained further from his attempt to halt the bleeding in his lung that was literally drowning him in his own body. The sound of a roaring waterfall combined with a pressured ringing began to fill the boy's ears, and his head felt as if it were being crushed. Everything around him slowly became more distant and quiet accept for these sensations, even the unsettling feeling in the back of his head of danger.

From across the road Gaara could see what he was waiting for; the healing jutsu that boy had used before. He could feel the murderous glint appear in his eyes as his monster writhed and forced its way to the surface, like he wanted his own personal glimpse. The demon had been incessantly commanding to see that ninja's jutsu; the one he used to heal his legs. He also wanted more of the ninja's blood. Only because it was daytime and past the full moon was Gaara able to put a cap on Shukaku's impulses to attacking the boy right here and now.

'_Well, there you go.'_

'**Mmmm.'**

'_And?'_

'**Nothing, brat. I wish I had paid more attention when you first took his blood. I feel like I missed something then.'**

'_Tch, that is too bad for you.'_

'**There is just something familiar about that kid. I recognize his chakra, but I don't remember ever sensing it before. His techniques seem to ring a bell, but his attitude doesn't. And his blood is strange; it's powerful, delicious.'**

'_You can have more later.'_

'**Why not just give me the stuff on the ground?'**

'_I'm not arguing with you.'_ The jinjuriki shut his demon from his mind, tired of his unrelenting pestering. He turned and began walking towards the gates where they were to meet Baki. Temari followed after him, continuing to lecture Kankuro as they walked down the street.

Karasu felt the violent drilling stare leave the side of his head as Gaara walked away, thought he just barely registered it in his state. He just barely slowed the bleeding when he felt like everything was tilting again, on top of the sounds and pain he was experiencing. The glow around his hand shrunk until it no longer existed. Everything began to get dark again very quickly, and at the same time he lost sense of balance entirely, and fell backwards. This time he got lucky, though, as a pair of strong arms caught him from behind before he hit the ground.

Just like before, everything was muffled, and everyone seemed far away. His eyes were closed, he couldn't see anything anyways. The pounding in his head that had reduced to a normal ache escalated again. In seconds, he went completely numb and fell totally unconscious.

_Karasu sat in the desert just in front of Suna, gazing at the setting sun. It was nice to get a break once and a while. Everything going on lately has just been so stressful. He sighed softly._

_His gaze drifted slowly across the horizon, his head gradually turning left with his eyes. He slowly traced the sand dunes as he continued the line he was making; it all looked very cal-_

"_HOLY SHHHhhmmmffhmm…!" Karasu jumped up from where he was sitting on the sand, gripping his chest in only half-mock surprise. He had been scanning the landscape when his eyes were suddenly met with the face of a small intruder. "You scared the cuss word right out of me, kid! You shouldn't sneak up on people like that. If I were old I would have had a heart attack." Of course, he just let the swear slip back into his throat when he saw he was talking to a child, but why tell the kid that?_

"_I'm sorry, Mister…" The little red-head spoke in a soft voice as he sat down sadly on the sand. He looked so down-cast by Karasu's response, the older boy almost felt bad for saying it._

_Karasu sat back down next to the child and patted him on the shoulder. "Hey, uh...don't worry about it." The boy nodded after a second, and looked up at Karasu with a small smile. He smiled back, but as he studied the child's face, his smile faltered into a look of confusion. "Hey, kid…have I met you before? You seem familiar."_

_The child looked slightly confused, "No, sir, I don't think so. I haven't seen you around the village before."_

_Well, figures. Maybe it was just his imagination. "Ah, well. I'm new here. No one seems to like me, though." Karasu laughed a little, trying to indicate that his last sentence was a joke. He heard no sound from the little red-head. When he looked over in the absence of response, he saw that the young boy looked sad._

"…_No one likes me, either." The child frowned, lifting his teddy bear from the ground next to him to hug it._

"_Hey now, kid, that's not true."_

_The boy shook his head. "It is true. My brother and sister are scared of me, and my daddy really doesn't like me. He wishes I weren't here…I don't know if my mommy likes me or not…she isn't around anymore. My uncle is the only one who is nice to me…"_

_Karasu stared at the child. He made a rather neutral and indescribable expression as he thought. After a long moment he tapped the boy on his shoulder to get his attention. When the boy looked up, he began, "That's still not true." The child seemed ready to protest, but Karasu continued, "…I like you." He grinned._

_The child's eyes widened, his tanuki markings making his eyes look even bigger. A small smile slowly crept onto his face and his eyes began to sparkle with tears. Suddenly he cried out, "I like you too!" and lunged forward at the older boy, clinging onto his arm happily, his teddy sandwiched between them._

_Karasu laughed, patting the young boy on his back. After a surprisingly crushing arm-hug for an, at most, 6 year old boy, the little scrap plopped back on his butt and beamed at his new friend, his teddy in arms._

_The Rain-ninja's eyes rested on the bear in the boys arms, and he nonchalantly questioned, "Ah, so, what's your teddy's name, kid?"_

_The red-head grinned happily, chirping, "His name is Ruffy-ruffy-kun!"_

_Karasu laughed loudly, finding the length of the bear's name particularly funny. He spoke with his laughter still in his voice, but he wasn't dishonest, "I think that's a great name. You know, the sun has just about set; we should probably get you home. Want to show me the way to your house? I'll take you back all the way so you get home safely. I've got to know how to get there anyways if I'm going to come see you again."_

_The red-head's eyes lit up at the mention of his friend coming to visit him. Without speaking and with an enormous smile on his face, he grabbed Karasu's hand and pulled him back to the village as fast as his little legs would carry him. Karasu grinned at the boy's enthusiasm, running at a slow jog to keep up._

_As they entered Suna through the pass, they began to walk again. Karasu gazed around the moonlit village—the sun had just completely set over the horizon. But…something was odd. His brow furrowed in confusion as he scrutinized his surroundings. There wasn't a huge difference, but the village looked…different. Some shop names seemed to have changed, and the various decors around the buildings were almost completely different. Also, some buildings on the skyline looked like….like….well, like they were _missing_ entirely. Karasu craned his head around to look at the moon. His eyes widened. It was in a totally different phase and position from where it should be. This was very, _very_ odd._

_Karasu turned his head back to look at the boy. He seemed completely oblivious to the changes in the village. He was walking along his merry way, pulling Karasu along, perfectly fine. Out of nowhere, the thought occurred to him that he didn't know this boy's name. Even though he would have much rather asked why the village looked so weird from how he remembered it, he felt compelled, almost possessed to ask the child's name._

"_A-ano, kid, I forgot I never asked your name. My name is Karasu." The words were forced from his throat, and then he was able to say no more. He felt like his body was being controlled, but somehow, he couldn't panic. Oddly, he seemed unworried as to why he had no control of himself._

_The boy looked back at him with a smile and answered, "My name is Gaara!"_

_Karasu suddenly had control again, and abruptly stopped walking. Images of the stony-eyed red-head flashed through his mind. Until his name was mentioned, it was like the moody teen had completely vanished from his memories and thoughts. The boy's smile dropped and he suddenly looked concerned, like he had made a mistake. Karasu blinked a few times. "G-gaara? That's not possible!"_

_The child's eyes started to water and his voice quivered, "Please, still be my friend! I'm not like everyone says!"_

"_No, no, that's not what I mean! You can't be Gaara! Gaara is a 12 year old angry teenager! I got into a fight with his big brother Kankuro just the other day! You couldn't be older than six!" He said all of this, but he could see the resemblance now. The red hair, the black tanuki eyes, the pale complexion…but...it just couldn't be! And, also…when _did_ he fight Kankuro? How long had it been? More time had to have passed, but the harder he thought, the harder it was to come up with any memories from that time to now. The last memory he had was of that very fight. He couldn't even remember how he had gotten to the desert earlier._

_The young Gaara's eyes were large, he spoke in a small unsure voice, "B-but, Kankuro _is_ my brother."_

_Karasu suddenly let out a loud yelp and ripped his hand from the small boy's grasp. He clutched his right side and fell to his knees. With every breath he took, it felt like his lung was on fire. He looked up to say something to the red-head, but the child and his teddy were gone. He closed his eyes and curled over himself in pain._

_Just as he opened his eyes again to look for help, the earth beneath him shifted. His body began to sink in the sand like it was quicksand. It was slow at first, but it quickly accelerated, and in no time the sand was up to his chest. He fought with the current of earth, but with the pain in his lungs he didn't have enough strength to escape. Just as his head was under ground-level, the small opening to the surface snapped shut. The last sound he heard was a deafening clap of thunder as he was plunged into darkness._

AN:

WOAH GUYS. PRETTY INTENSE RIGHT? It's almost 3 AM and I have officially finished my last edit of this chapter before its first upload.

Tell me if I made any mistakes, PLEASE! Don't pull another jounin on me!

So, for the Japanese words, all of the words in this chapter I defined in one of the previous ones, and I didn't use too many this time. If there are any that are too hard to figure out, just tell me and I'll add them on the end here.

Also, I have absolutely no clue if "Ruffy Ruffy kun" was Gaara's Teddy bear's legitimate name. C: I just kind of saw it around.

Hope you liked the chapter, don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think! I appreciate constructive criticism, I promise!


	6. Chapter 6

AN:

OMGWAT? A CHAPTER? It has been so long! Yes, finally I got around to finishing this and editing it to a place I'm happy with.

I think I will start replying to any new reviews I get at the bottom of my stories. If I already PM'ed you in reply, though, I won't reply again, since that would be pointless. How does that sound? :) I'm sorry if I accidently reply when I have already replied to you, or if I don't reply, thinking that I PM'ed you.

In case you haven't seen elsewhere, **I did a lot of revising on my other chapters.** It might be a good idea to re-read them. They are a lot better now :). (Like my teachers say, writing is a continuous process! Revise, revise, revise!)

Chapter 6

The three sand siblings trudged with their Jounin, Baki, into Suna. Temari sighed heavily and angrily—her group had just finished an extensive and frustrating three day mission. They were supposed to be home early the second day, but as a result of her brother's fight with that stupid Rain ninja, everything was complicated.

Due to Kankuro's incessant complaining, they had to take him back to the infirmary before they could leave for their mission. His nose was indeed broken. After getting it healed and then fussing around with explaining to Baki what had happened, it took them a whole four hours extra before they could set foot outside the village. Then, while they were out there, a sandstorm that they _would_ have missed if they had left at the proper time set them back an extra three hours. Other minor, annoying, and ceaseless stops whittled away at the team's precious time. They finally made it to their destination at dusk, approximately eight hours late.

Because of their late arrival, there were huge complications with confirming their identities, and the officials they were supposed to meet were absolutely miffed. Staying true to their luck streak, during the "identity confirmation process" Gaara was so furious and edgy from the trip, he nearly killed three of the ally's ninja. Baki was forced to stay up until the crack of dawn's ass trying to convince the officials that he and his team were not assassins. They all suspected that the real Sand ninja they were supposed to meet were taken down on the way there, and that assassin substitutes were put in their place.

If that all wasn't bad enough, the _true_ story of what had actually happened to delay them was so ridiculous, chancy, and farfetched that Baki was forced to send a messenger hawk out to retrieve official confirmation of their identities. Even after admitting the horribly shameful fact that a son of the Kazekage got into a _fist fight_, they still didn't believe him. It wasn't until the next morning when the hawk returned that they finally could begin the negotiating that was half the reason they came.

Even the other half of their two-in-one-mission turned out to be a wreck. They eventually accomplished it, but it took twice as long and was ten times more frustrating than it had to be. First of all, Gaara's pissy mood made him extremely uncooperative, and caused everyone else to feel nervous or annoyed, making the whole thing unpleasant. Second, the ninja who were feeding in the initial data for their mission were either _IDIOTS,_ or the people they were tracking were revoltingly crafty. All of the leads turned out to be dead ends, and the high-rank scammers they were hunting always stayed just in front of their noses. _Stupid_ things happened too—like a communication error giving the group wrong coordinates for a search, or when Temari had tripped and mildly sprained her ankle.

Kankuro had moaned and groaned about every little problem as well, making it painfully public how everyone else was feeling. Near the end of the mission, Gaara had gotten so agitated from Kankuro's yapping he had almost murdered his brother. It took the whole day and late into that night before they finally caught the two cheats. Even that wasn't the end of their troubles, because when they caught them it took five minutes of bribing to keep Gaara from violently crushing both of the men.

They had all gone to bed both distraught and tired, except for Gaara of course; who doesn't sleep. Everyone who did sleep woke up the next morning not feeling even _slightly_ refreshed. Gaara was very persuasive (death stares/threats/attempts) that they should all leave for home immediately now that the mission was complete. No one complained. Except for maybe Kankuro, who remembered (half way through the trip back to Suna) that he had forgotten his favorite set of carving tools back at the place they had stayed. Baki was only able to shut him up after he promised to send a messenger bird telling them to send the tool set to Suna _immediately _when they got home. Why had he even BROUGHT that thing anyways?

Finally, they had the misfortune of running into a _second_ sandstorm on the way home. They were barely an hour's walk away from the village, but they had to stop. What are the chances—two of the most awful sandstorms the team had ever run into practically back-to-back at the worst times possible? It was like the Gods were conspiring against them. Gaara became absolutely impetuous after the first three hours of waiting, and so nearly walked right out into the sandstorm. The only thing that kept him from trudging back to the village—leaving the rest of the group with no protection from the sand—was that Kankuro reminded him, 'If we all die, you are going to be stuck with a new group that will be _way _more annoying than we are'. Calling himself annoying wrenched Kankuro's soul, but it probably saved the group's lives.

They had to wait six hours before the storm let up. Looking at the sun when it was in view again, it was about 7 o'clock; they had only two or three hours of daylight left. This was probably the worst mission that Temari and her team had ever been on.

Despite all of this, they were finally home, and they only had one last thing to take care of before they could relax for the evening. All though, she had a feeling this would prove to not be a small thing.

Temari pinched her brow, anticipating the headache to come, and turned her head to speak to Kankuro as they were walking, "Kankuro, father is going to find out what you did to that Rain ninja." Gaara's back visibly stiffened at the words 'Rain ninja', although no one was paying enough attention to notice.

Temari went on, "Unless you want to get in even more trouble, you should go apologize to him and get on his good side. Maybe if you do it well enough, he will even try to keep you out of trouble."

Kankuro looked at Temari like her ass had suddenly and irreversibly become her mouth. "APOLOGIZE? I've never apologized to anyone in my _life_!"

Temari shot back, "Would you rather get in trouble with father?"

Kankuro seemed to pale a little, knowing that the Kazekage's punishments were not something to be laughed at. He groaned, "I will _talk_ to him. I'm not promising to apologize for anything…" he grumbled off to the side, "…since I didn't _do_ anything." Temari thankfully missed that comment, or had pretended not to hear.

Gaara was walking just behind his siblings; listening to their conversation. Temari wanted them to detour and see _him._ Gaara's eyes narrowed while he lifted his arms and crossed them in front of his chest in displeasure. Surely, he would be dragged into these two's affairs, and have to see that boy.

Shukaku dropped in on Gaara's thoughts, the topic suddenly rousing him to speak. The demon's grating, high-pitched voice welled up from the depths of his host's mind, **"Oh, good. Do we get to see the brat again?"**

The sound of his demon's voice only added to Gaara's irritation. He grudgingly replied, "_Unfortunately."_

The beast hummed, **"Perfect. I'll get myself a nice, long feel for his chakra. Maybe I will finally recall something; it has really been driving me crazy."**

"_Tch, like you aren't already bat-shit insane." _Gaara could have almost laughed. Almost.

Shukaku howled in annoyance and surprise at the comment, **"I wouldn't be bitching if I were you, smart-mouth! Where did you pick up that cocky attitude, brat?"**

For a moment, he was taken aback. Even as he thought it, Gaara didn't realize how uncharacteristic of him that comment was. It was strikingly similar to a _joke._ He has _never_ made a joke. Where on earth could he have picked that up from?

Almost as if the image leaped up and bit him, a particular face framed in odd-colored hair and adorned with an annoying, beaming smile flashed across the red-head's thoughts. Just as this happened, he felt a sudden shock in his chest; an unfamiliar, unwelcome, burning sensation welled up from nowhere. His heart began to beat faster, and he unwillingly took a short, quick breath in through his mouth.

A small spark of something akin to panic fluttered in the boy's chest; the feeling seeped through into his voice as he spoke to Shukaku, _"What is going on? Am I dying? Why is my chest burning?"_

The demon's ear-splitting laugh rung in Gaara's head. **"EEEEEEAAHAHAHAHHAA! NO, BRAT! The only one dying right now is me, and you are doing the killing! I haven't had this much fun since the last time I wasn't sealed in some container!"**

The jinjuriki pressed, unsatisfied with Shukaku's response, _"I don't understand. What is this if I am not dying? Is this what the pain of an injury feels like? This isn't the same as the pain I felt when I was young."_

Gaara could almost see the other's grin as he jeered, **"I don't think I remember you ever blabbing so much. That isn't any kind of pain. That's emotion. Don't even try to ask me about it, I don't know a thing about emotions like that one."**

Gaara visibly glowered at the response, and didn't say anything else. The feeling was slowly ebbing away, causing him to become more aware of his surroundings again. When the group stopped in front of the Kazekage tower, his face was still one of lingering irritation.

Temari looked back at Baki, who was towing at the end of their group, "While you go and report to the Kazekage, I'm going to take Kankuro and Gaara on a detour to the hospital. We will be home soon."

Baki stared for a bit—he had missed the sibling's conversation regarding this plan—but nodded, "Fine. Go on, then." The village hospital was to the right of the tower, so the three teens turned in that direction. Kankuro frantically made Baki promise he would send for his tool set as soon as possible while Temari was dragging him off with a hand on the back of his collar. The jounin exasperatedly reassured Kankuro multiple times, quickly retreating into the tower the instant he could pretend Kankuro was out of earshot. Temari ceased dragging her brother when he finally stopped struggling, which, of course, was only after about half of the five minute walk. Gaara pouted angrily over this whole process in his own way by the stiffness in which he walked, and the ever-so-faint frown and glare adorning his porcelain face. He rarely spoke his displeasure in any situation that he might be in. It was in fact so rare, that Temari had heard him speak up in this fashion _maybe_ twice, in all of her memories of him. It usually never proved to be an issue, either way.

Kankuro looked very uncomfortable when they walked into the hospital; apparently giving his pride up to apologize was just too much for him to handle. The three walked up to the front desk, where a young lady sat, scribbling things down onto papers at her desk. The receptionist initially looked up with a smile, but it faltered nervously when she was met with the glare of the youngest Sand Sibling. Many other people waiting in the lobby also looked nervous. Gaara had his arms crossed his arms over his chest, the one show of emotion his siblings ever knew him to do; the gesture meaning that he was uncomfortable.

Temari smiled and politely asked, "Hello, could you give us the room number for Karasu…er, I don't believe I know his last name, but-"

The woman quickly squeaked out, "Room 42, down the hall and to your left."

Temari sighed and nodded, not bothering to make a protest, and walked off down the hall; her two brothers bringing up the rear on their brooding-caboose. Sometimes it was annoying that everyone was so afraid of Gaara. Temari glanced at the walls when she made her turn left around the corner for the number '45' as her mind wandered on the topic. By following the words of the receptionist, she did come across the room labeled per her instructions. Temari knocked on the door.

A woman's voice answered, "Come in!" Briefly, Temari paused, glancing over at Kankuro in confusion. Had they gone to the wrong room? She looked above the door. It was room 45, that's what the woman said. She cautiously opened the sliding door and scanned the room as she stepped in.

A nurse was standing and smiling at her, holding a clipboard and some papers in her arms. So, the nurse had been the one speaking. That would explain the lack of an annoying young Rain ninja's voice. "Um, hi, I'm looking for—uh—Karasu? Is this the right room?" Gaara and Kankuro were both standing off to the side of the doorway, so the woman only saw Temari.

The nurse smiled and giggled softly, "Yes it is. Are you his girlfriend?"

Temari's face instantly flushed red. She shouted indignantly, "NO! I-Er, I'm here with my brother, we just need to talk to him for a minute!" Temari roughly grabbed Kankuro by the arm and pulled him into the doorway, showing him off as if to prove her point that she WAS NOT the kid's boyfriend. Kankuro pouted when he was shoved around, complaining under his breath.

The nurse's head tilted to the side when she politely responded, "Well, I'm sorry to inform you, but he has been unconscious since he was admitted. Remarkably, he has almost completely healed, but he has not pulled out of his coma. You may still visit if you like."

Temari growled, slapping Kankuro over the head. "Dad is going to kill you!"

Her brother loudly complained, "Hey, come on! The kid deserved it!"

The kunoichi sighed in frustration and looked back at the nurse, "What were his injuries?"

The nurse looked down at her papers, pausing for a moment before speaking, "Well, Karasu-san had a few injuries. His chakra was depleted almost to zero—it amazed our doctors that he survived—he also suffered one broken rib, and a punctured lung as a result. As far as more minor injuries, he had widespread swelling and bruising of his chest, and a split in his skin caused by some impact to the swollen flesh," she mumbled almost to herself, "His jonin took responsibility for the bruising, I believe, but the other injuries weren't well explained…" (Temari gave Kankuro another glare at this comment) the nurse spoke up again when her uncertainty passed, "But, as I mentioned earlier, he has healed well. His broken rib and punctured lung are the only remaining injuries yet to totally heal."

Temari slapped her palm to her face after she sent Kankuro that dirty look, around the end of the nurse's speech. When the woman finished, Temari quickly turned to her brother with a scowl on her face, "KANKURO, you idiot! If this kid lets you get away punishment free from this, you _so_ owe him."

Said idiot instantly tried to protest, "But Temari-!"

"-NOPE." Temari cut him off the moment he opened his mouth.

The woman looked slightly uncomfortable being near the personal quarrel going on between the siblings; she bowed, formally showing her request to leave. When she excused herself, Temari pushed Kankuro from the doorway and stepped aside so the young lady could exit the room. Just as the medic turned out the door, she screamed. The two siblings could hear her clipboard clatter on the ground, and they both quickly poked their heads out into the hallway to see what had happened. The nurse had almost walked right into Gaara.

The red-head's face remained unchanged as he coolly watched the nurse scramble for her things she dropped on the ground in fright, and then hurriedly walk—almost run—in the opposite direction from where she was originally headed. Temari sighed and shook her head, "You might as well come in the room Gaara; you'll keep every nurse on one or the other side of the building. They won't walk through that hall with you standing there looking mean and gloomy." Gaara appeared in the doorway and entered, expressionless.

When Temari's attention came back to her surroundings, she became aware of a soft beeping and sounds of medical machinery, indicating the room was indeed occupied. They couldn't see Karasu from the doorway, or this side of the room, as there was a privacy curtain separating his bed from another unoccupied one nearer to the door. He, assumedly, was in the other bed near the one small round window.

The air in the small room seemed stiff, dry, and it had an element of heaviness, almost like how a house filled with sad people feels as you enter. Temari couldn't decide whether this resulted from the simple fact that this was a hospital, or if this resulted from of her two brothers' crisp annoyance penetrating the very _atmosphere_. If the latter was the case, her youngest sibling was likely the larger contributor.

Disregarding her thoughts (when she noticed the odd looks she was getting from Kankuro because of her standing around) she proceeded to advance into the small room. Sure enough, as Temari peered around the drawn shut dividing curtain, the root of the Sand Siblings' recent woes was lying flat on his back, unconscious. His mouth was hanging slightly open but he was breathing softly, as opposed to snoring. His right arm was lying face up on top of the blanket, probably for doctor/nurse easy access. On his exposed arm, his hand was hooked up to a heart monitor, and on his forearm there was an IV linking him to a bag of clear fluid.

Temari sighed loudly and plopped down onto one of the visitor chairs; Kankuro did the same. Gaara remained standing, off in the corner of the room. "Well, Kanky, it looks like you're screwed. We can't hang around until he wakes up—it's going to be dark soon, and I don't want to be out here all night. Dad's going to find out you put the new kid into a coma."

Kankuro glared over at Temari; he knew she did that on purpose to annoy him, "My name is not _Kanky_," he said the nickname with disgust, "and there has got to be something we can do."

"What, lie? That will just get you in more trouble. Baki probably already told him everything, anyway."

Kankuro sighed, deflated with the situation. He buried his face into his hands, apparently not caring if his face paint was smudged.

Gaara barely managed to remain impassive when he reluctantly entered the hospital room. He was riding on the hope that he might not have to go into the room; he had an uncomfortable feeling in the pit of his stomach. Sure enough, his heart clenched and he felt the same burning sensation as earlier roaring in his chest the moment he had to enter the room because of who he knew he would see.

A word bounced around in Gaara's head that he felt might be his affliction: 'anticipation'. He had heard the word used before, and so he made a conclusion. He had felt a bad kind of _anticipation_ for the site of the boy now lying in the range of his vision. Maybe that could explain why he felt this feeling just from _knowing_ he would see him, without actually seeing him. Yet, this didn't solve his problems. There was still the question of _why _he felt the anticipation. Gaara's head began to throb with confusion caused by his whirling thoughts and sensations.

Most of the read-head's concentration was manifested in forcing himself to not look at the boy's face. The urge to stare and take in his odd features was almost unbearable; he wanted to look, but he knew doing it would make the feeling he had worse-

"**Can we take his blood now?"**

Shukaku's voice droned in his unfortunate host's head, cutting off his important thoughts. Gaara inwardly snapped, _"You know, all you talk about is looking at his chakra, but when we are here all you want is to kill him."_

"**You know one thing I can't get over? You have gotten real chattery. I expected your usual, blank 'no'."** The demon's response was very matter-of-fact, and held a genuine air of fascination. **"I can't imagine what happened to you when I wasn't paying attention to give you all of this emotion."**

Gaara chose to completely ignore the comments and responded with annoyance evident in his tone, _"That has nothing to do with what I said. Do you sense anything or not?"_

"**No, he isn't awake. When you are asleep you give off a fraction of your usual chakra signature. Also, brat, you take for granted how difficult it is to sense chakra while sealed in a host. Since I can't sense his chakra, we should take more of his blood now. That's an easy way to feel his chakra."**

The jinjuriki's irritation rose. Now Shukaku would be pestering him for days because this idiot decided that it was a good time to be unconscious. Gaara contemplated whether or not crushing one or two of this Rain ninja's limbs would be enough to wake him up. The brooding teen's eyes focused all of his frustrations into a brutal glare at the wall across from him; his mind retreated to mull over his strange emotions.

Temari still sat quietly next to her brother, gazing around the plain room. She had become quickly bored with her thoughts, and so fell to looking at her surroundings. Her eyes rested on the Rain ninja in front of her, the centerpiece of the room. He was the most interesting thing to look at in the small, blank area she was currently confined in. Her eyes began to lazily trace the ninja's odd hair when a small noise that slipped from the unconscious boy's mouth drew her eyes to his face. Temari's attention was instantly piqued, her eyebrow cocking slightly to correspond. Her awareness of the surrounding room grew; she could feel the air thickening with some odd kind of suspense. The teen in front of her sighed softly, and his face began to twitch into one that looked similar to Kankuro's when he didn't want to get out of bed in the morning.

Temari glanced around; her brother was still absorbed in his own thoughts, and Gaara was staring angrily at the wall. Apparently, she was the only one paying attention. The soft features on the genin's face slowly morphed, gaining an element of fear or nervousness in his expression. She could see his eyelids moving as his eyes shifted under them. He made another small, light sound, and his legs moved underneath the thin hospital blanket. She absently thought to herself that he must just be dreaming, but something still seemed off.

After a moment she became aware of another change. As the ninja was looking more agitated, the once calm beeping of the heart monitor had sped up slightly to match his appearance. After observing this for a moment, she concluded she needed a second opinion on the situation. She reached over and tapped her brother's thigh, nodding over at the patient when she got his attention.

He stared for a moment and took in the sight before him, then looked back over at his sister, mumbling, "Uh…Should we call someone in here?"

"I'll try to find somebody." Temari got up from her chair and walked to the door. Her youngest brother was taking a keen interest in what was happening now that distress was involved. It wasn't too hard to see why everyone was scared of him. She poked her head out of the still-open doorway and peered down the hall in both directions. One nurse was talking to another at the very end of the hall where the siblings had come from.

"Um, excuse me! I think there might be something wrong with a patient in here." She called loud enough for the nurses to hear. They looked over at Temari, and then back at each other. The first nurse quickly said something to the second, who then briskly walked down the hall. Nurse Number One then walked towards Temari.

The nurse asked, "What is the problem, ma'am?" when she was in range to speak in a normal tone.

Temari nodded back towards the room, "I don't think the kid in here is doing so well. He's making some noise and his heart rate has just gone up."

She nodded in response and they both re-entered the room. Karasu had since rolled over on his side, and the blankets that were neatly laid on him were ruffled and kicked off his upper body. He was grunting softly every few seconds, and his face was still strained.

The nurse walked over and touched the boy on the shoulder, "Karasu-san? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" She got no response. Gently, she shook his shoulder and asked again, "Karas-"

The boy's shoulder suddenly jerked away from her touch. He still seemed to be asleep as he moaned, "Leave us alone…" and trailed off.

Temari looked confused, '_Us? …Well, he does seem to be dreaming.'_

Nurse Number Two from earlier came into the room with a doctor, motioning to the problem patient as she said something to the man. The doctor walked over, asking Nurse Number One medical things (that Temari didn't care to listen to) about Karasu's condition. When he had finished speaking to her, his attention turned to the patient. He carefully pushed on the boy's shoulder, trying to get him onto his back. But as soon as Karasu was touched, he yelped loudly and jerked his body back from the touch. His eyes remained closed; even though he was reacting as if he was awake, he was still unconscious.

The doctor tried again, but as he pushed, more firmly the time, the boy let out a loud scream. His voice sounded groggy, but it was clear as he yelled, "Let me go! Leave us alone!" His arms whipped out to knock away the doctor's, ripping away from the man's firm grip.

The doctor pushed down again on Karasu's shoulders in an attempt to restrain him as he started to call out orders, "Kuna, please get me a sedative. Akemi, please hold his legs." He addressed the two nurses who quickly did as they were told.

Karasu began to struggle more violently when the nurse aided in restraining him, and held down his legs. He voice had gotten louder and he sounded panicked, "Let me go, Let me _go!_"

Kankuro and Temari were now both standing to the right of the chairs that they previously were sitting in; they were trying their best to keep out of the way. Gaara was watching the struggle with such intent interest Temari was becoming nervous. He had an almost hungry quality in his eyes. Hopefully her brother would control himself. Because he was being so unmoving and silent, neither the nurses nor the doctor even noticed his presence in the room—it was probably for the better.

The doctor and nurse had removed the rest of the blankets off of the struggling patient. The man had also rolled up Karasu's right pant leg to his upper thigh. Temari assumed this was because that was where they would stick the kid with the needle filled with whatever sedative they were giving him. After just more than a minute, Nurse Number Two had returned. She had a syringe in her hand filled with a clear liquid.

The doctor took the syringe and switched places with the nurse, so she was now the one holding the boy's shoulders. He placed a firm hand on Karasu's hip to try to hold the boy still as he aimed the needle at his uncovered thigh. As soon as he pierced the boy's thigh with almost the full length of the needle, he administered the serum. The real chaos now began. Just as suddenly as the pain registered in his brain, Karasu released an ear bursting shriek and his eyes flew open. Kankuro and Temari both started with a jump at the sudden scream, the boy sounded like he was being murdered.

Now, because he was awake, Karasu was coordinated; he was fighting back. He instantly burst from the nurses' grips, and he scooted back to the head of the bed, as far from the hospital staff as he could get. The bag containing the fluid for his IV jerked and fell over with his sudden movement. His attention flashed to the IV in his arm now that he noticed it. He quickly ripped out the needle and threw it at the hospital staff. The heart monitor equipment previously connected to his hand had long since fallen off and was droning on with a loud _beeeeeeep_. His eyes' normal icy blue color was even more noticeable and prominent. They almost looked glowing with their intensity of fear.

It was dusk outside, so everything around him was dim, more than it usually was. Three large men stood in front of Karasu, each holding threatening weapons. Cornered in the small safe-haven cave that had now become his slaughterhouse, he pressed as close to the cold stone wall as he could. The man closest to him smirked, and lifted a hand to reach for him. As quickly as he could, Karasu ducked down to the rubble by his feet, and threw the largest rock he could get his hands on at the man advancing towards him. The stone smacked the brute in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards at the impact. He quickly regained his footing, and he and the other men growled menacingly.

The doctor pleaded with Karasu, calling out, "Calm down!" as he reached forward to try to restrain the boy.

Temari anticipated the boy's panic as cause of the doctor's action, and reached a hand across Kankuro's chest, ducking down and pulling Kankuro down with her. Karasu's eyes shone with a kind of primeval terror as the hand man's hand reached for him; his mouth dropped open as he gasped air into his lungs in panic. He hastily crouched down, grappling for the pillow behind him—the only projectile near him—and whipped it at the doctor.

The pillow hit the man square in the face, causing him to make a noise upon the object's impact. He started to look worried, unsure why this boy was so terrified, and why the tranquilizer had yet to take effect. He tried to reason again with the panicking boy, "Please, calm down! We aren't going to hurt you!"

Karasu felt electricity running up his spine in sheer dread—he knew everything would get worse. This was all familiar, but there was some terrible curse forcing him to relive everything anew. The man in front of him sneered, '_We aren't going to hurt you. Don't worry. Come here.'_ His voice sent a shock of fear through Karasu's heart. Karasu's legs shook with energy as he felt his body commanding him to run.

"Don't lie to me! Go away! Leave us _alone_!" Karasu's voice sounded pitiful and almost childlike, it shook and cracked as he spoke as if he was on the verge of tears.

The sand siblings both looked to the doctor when he spoke aloud, as if to inform everyone, "This has never happened before, but it appears the sedative isn't working. I believe he has had some kind of adverse reaction to the drug, and so is hallucinating. He is potentially dangerous in this state, so he must be restrained as soon as possible. He could easily hurt himself or someone else."

Quickly, he scanned to the dim and blurry surroundings for his friend. Where had he gone? He caught a quick glimpse of fiery-orange hair surrounded by men, indicating his companion was cornered too; separated from Karasu on the other side of the cave. A cold wind brushing against his face caused Karasu to look away, and back at the men in front of him. Their fingers had blackened and elongated like claws, and they no longer had eyes. Their eyes looked like they had been scooped out of their skulls. They all had sadistic grins plastered to their faces, showing their pointed teeth.

The creature nearest to him lunged forward, its gangly arms reaching for him. In frenzy, Karasu bolted out through the gap between the monsters. They all outstretched their limbs towards him in a flash as he dove through the air. Their claws caught on his clothing and tore at his skin, causing him to fall short onto the ground, chest first. The flesh of his arms and torso was now ripped and bleeding—the cuts burned, as if salt had been poured into them.

He could hear screeching and howls behind him. When his head whirled around his eyes were met with a repulsive sight. All of the creature's faces and bodies had become disfigured and twisted. They were covered in blood, and they left a reeking trail of it behind them as they squirmed on the ground. Even in such a grotesque form of their natural posture, they advanced forward so quickly they were nearly on top of him in a fraction of a second. The stab of cold fear through his chest was so sharp that his shriek of terror only came out as a quiet pitiful cry. He sprung of the ground and shot out of the cave, sprinting as fast as his legs would allow him to go. He could hear the things' angry screams behind him.

They were in for it now. Karasu had dove off of the bed, spilling onto the floor near the end of the bed. One of the nurses ran forward to try to catch him, but in just moments, he stood and bolted out of the door.

The doctor and nurses followed suit after him, the man shouting, "LOCK DOWN THE BUILDING, DON'T LET THE PANTIENT LEAVE!"

Kankuro looked at Temari, who looked back. "Should we try to help them catch him?"

"Well, we are no use just standing here. Gaara, just stay here, okay? We will be back for you." At that, the two older siblings followed after the hospital staff, breaking into a run when they entered the hallway.

Hospital personnel all around Temari and Kankuro were frantically trying to block hallways and doors to keep Karasu from escaping. He was certainly proving a hard runaway to catch, because he was doing everything in his power get away. In areas of the hallways that he had passed through, any tip-able pieces of equipment or racks he had come across were knocked over to serve as obstacles for his pursuers. The equipment was made hardy, so those didn't break, but some of the racks were stacked with glass items—those practically created a mine field of shattered glass. Half of the personnel had close-toed shoes that could withstand this abuse, but the other portion of the convoy was forced to stay behind. The two siblings cleared this obstacle by using their chakra to sprint along the wall for the length of the glass shards.

He couldn't get away; everything was so dark and cold. The sun had completely set now, and at every turn there was another freakish monster blocking his path. The sound of thumping followed him close behind, indicating that the monsters from earlier were unrelenting. There were thick rows of trees and brush on either side of him as he ran. They formed a complicated pattern, and it had almost no openings. It was exactly like being trapped in a life-sized maze.

Up ahead of him there was only one way to turn. He skid on the ground to stop, and then quickly darted to the right as fast as he could. Suddenly, he panicked. The path abruptly stopped, cut off by a thick line of trees. There was no way out. As soon as he reached the wall of trees, he flipped around and pressed his back against it. He held his arms up in a last-ditch effort to defend himself.

Temari and Kankuro, who were now caught up and at the head of the chase, could barely keep up with Karasu. They were just able to keep his heels in sight every time he turned a corner. Temari happened to know the layout of this end of the hospital; she knew there wasn't an exit this direction, so Karasu was running himself into a dead end. It was a good thing too, because the doctors and other staff that had joined the chase were struggling to keep up.

He could feel his body shaking with fear as the creatures rounded the corner and began to slowly stalk towards him. Now at a slower pace, they dragged themselves along by their fingers, again smearing a trail of reeking blood on the ground. There were noises of screams and whispers of many people that seemed to hover around the creatures. The noise got louder as they got closer to him, and everything got immensely colder. The breeze somehow emanating off of them was so cold it was like the creatures themselves were a bitter nighttime wind during fall. Karasu could see his breath puffing out in front of his face as he panted heavily from his long sprint. His body was begging to turn a flushed pink color from the sudden drastic decrease in temperature.

Temari could see as the boy ahead of her skid on the ground and turned right down the last length of hallway. Sure enough, he had run into a dead end, giving the whole pack of staff time to catch up with the two siblings, panting after the exhausting sprint. After a few moments of catching his breath, the first doctor from earlier took the initiative, and cautiously walked forward to the cornered boy.

Karasu stood in the same arms-up position Temari remembered from a couple days ago when her brother and the ninja fought. She looked at Kankuro and could tell that he recognized the fighting pose as well. Kankuro glanced at his sister before deciding to speak up, "Uh, hey, man. I don't think that's a great idea. I'm pretty sure he's fixing to hurt you if you go over there now."

The doctor paused about twenty feet away from Karasu. He seemed to consider what Kankuro said, looking nervously at the defensive figure ahead of him, and then turned to address the group, "Considering that this boy is a ninja, I believe at this point to avoid the patient harming us or himself; the best course of action will be to stay back until the hallucination ceases. He can't go anywhere as it is." Kankuro scoffed when the doctor spoke like he was the one to come up with that, but didn't protest otherwise. After his announcement, the doctor retreated backwards until he was with the group again.

The collection of doctors and nurses in the hall now began to exchange scientifically about the situation. Neither Kankuro nor Temari was at all interested in this. So, by some unspoken signal, they were assigned to the task of watching the cornered ninja.

Poor Karasu, reliving his past—and poor Gaara, all emotion-filled and confused! You will get to hear more about Kasu-chan's past next chapter! :D

I'm sorry this chapter ends kind of lamely, and that it is a little short. ): It was getting long—as usual—but I couldn't find a decent place to end it without it sounding weird. This was the least weird place to end it! D8

Because I ended it this way, though, I already have about half of the next chapter finished. So you shouldn't have to wait too long for it. :D

Replies:  
This time around I think I already replied to all the reviews I have so far. Thank you to everyone who said nice stuff and continues to read my story! Also, thanks a ton to the people who told me about writing mistakes I made—I like to have those corrected! 'Till next time!


	7. Chapter 7

AN:  
Yay! Nice to see you all! I uploaded a Karasu picture to my deviant-art, just search "Karasu DFTR" and you will find it. Pretty soon I am going to make a separate DA account, because I'm not too keen on my old one. I really would like to start fresh and have an account just for story-related things! So look forward to that.

We pick up again with our very own lovely red-head~!

"**Are we just going to sit here?"**

Shukaku's complaining disturbed Gaara's quiet mind. _"I have no desire to go anywhere."_

"**Well, I have a desire to go plenty of places, brat."** Tch, what could that mean?

Gaara sighed out loud—he knew no one was around. He didn't respond, but only stepped forward to look out of the one escape the dull hospital room had to offer, the small window.

When it received no response, the demon pestered again, **"Nee, it is sunset. Let's go outside." **The red-head rolled his eyes—earning him some shouts about his being 'Mister Attitude' all the sudden—but he didn't refuse. The outside was better than in this stuffy room.

Gaara's head turned to look behind him before he left. He scanned the room, but his eyes lingered on the recently vacated hospital bed. They traced the lines and curves of the tossed and messed sheets that now drooped off of the bed. Rationally, he could not come up with a reason to explain why his chest began to tighten, and his face began to feel warm. Or, at least, he didn't _want_ to come up with the reason. Some part of him realized, though, it was because of who had just been there. The one who he refused to look at the whole time he existed in the room, lying on that bed.

The boy's brow lowered, and his mind began to whirl. That bed had been in contact with that most unreal, unusual, and mystic creature. That boy acted so abnormally and had such strange effects on the red-head, he might as well be a dream—he felt almost intangible.

Almost as if just by touching it, he had caused the hospital bed to become unreal and captivating itself. He was realized he was watching because he was_ waiting_—he felt that at any second, the enchanted thing might come to life, or fall through the floor, or maybe it would simply disappear—as unreal as it was, or maybe, its physical form might melt away, and it would become a strange, flowing spirit that would _run_—

"_**Oi, Gaki.**_** Can we go now?"**

Hn. What strange thoughts.

For once, Gaara did not complain when the demon interrupted his thinking. His face remained pensive when he finally tore his eyes away from the bed. He internally complied with Shukaku, and allowed the demon to use his sand to transport them to the roof.

In a swirl of dust, Gaara was standing on the roof of the building, gazing out towards the village entrance. The sky had brilliant streaks of red and orange bleeding into a dark maroon above him, which faded into a deep black-blue behind him. The light emulated beautifully off of the rounded Suna architecture, and contrasted perfectly with blue hued shadows riddling the village.

A gentle, warm breeze caressed the boy's porcelain face and brushed his hair away from his face. The wind flowed towards him from the foreside of the village, as if running away from the mighty heat of the setting sun. His eyes closed in an expression that, even on the red-head's stoic face, one could pin as enjoyment—just without a smile, of course.

He could feel the recent stresses of the last few days melt off of his shoulders as he exhaled contently. He rarely ever enjoyed anything—however, being outside, alone, in front of sunsets or under the moon were two of the few exceptions. The outdoors was the only thing that had never wronged him in this village.

"**Enjoying yourself**_**?**_**"**

The boy's eyes reopened in disapproval at the grating melody of the demon's voice.

"_I would if you would shut up."_

A burst of hysterical laughter erupted from Shukaku's mouth, **"NNYEEEAHAHAHAA-HHUA! Why did I not get along with you before? Whatever happened to you, I'm liking it."**

He ignored the demon's unpleasant laugh, and fixed his eyes to the sky again. Everything appeared peaceful, but his acute connection to the sand allowed him to feel the unrest of the desert. He knew there would be a sandstorm soon; it was culminating rather quickly, too. The desert might as well have been responding to its incarnation's stormy and confused emotions.

And what was the cause of those emotions? That boy. Gaara's brow lowered. Something always rounded his thoughts back to that boy. He wanted to just think about something else for once. What was it that he had not already pondered that his mind wished him to mull over?

"**Huhuhu. Thinking about that kid again?"** And there was Shukaku's comment; he should have known that was coming.

The red-head dully retorted, _'You have been talking too much lately.'_

"**I could say the same for you."** Expected. He walked right into that one.

He sighed gently through his nose. Did he have anything to lose by talking? He decided not—some part of him wanted to share his frustrations. _'I would prefer not to dwell over him, but there must be something I am missing. Something must be making me think all the time.'_

Surprisingly, the demon grunted in agreement, **"Nn. I have been thinking too, and I have a question. What did he say to you that night—when we took his blood? The time when he was supposed to have died, and we saw him heal. But—before he fell back—before I was listening—he said something, I thought. What was it?"**

Gaara's eyes narrowed in concentration while he combed through his memories. They were fuzzy, as they usually were on the nights of the full moon, when Shukaku amused himself by pushing the buttons of his sanity—but he could try to piece them together. He remembered attacking the Rain ninja—he knew he had yelled at him first, and then the boy did something...he reached out, and tried to touch his head. And then…Yes—he did. He remembered, he said something then.

When the red-head spoke he sounded distant—he was still deciphering the memory as he retold it. _'He did say something. I remember that it sounded…strange. I didn't understand it. He was saying words that sounded very unlike normal, and in this bizarre accent… I can't bring myself to remember what they were, but…they were familiar somehow,'_ he paused, and his mouth curved into a slight frown of concentration, _'It reminded me of…the words you say. Like the strange names you like to call me. Exactly like those.'_

Gaara could feel prickles of the demon's unnerved energy stand the fine hairs all over his body straight up.

"**That's impossible. You just misheard."** He was surprised at the sudden unease in the monster's usually cocky tone.

He continued to press, annoyed that Shukaku would blatantly tell him he was mistaken. _'I'm certain.'_

The demon began to reassure his host, **"Impossible. He wouldn't know those words unless—"**

Suddenly, he stopped. Gaara waited for a few seconds, but he did not continue. He was ready to make a snobby comment (which was still totally unlike him) when the feeling of the monster's grin shoved the comment right back where it came from.

An ear-splitting, lengthy laugh shrieked between Gaara's ears, and he physically winced. That was the loudest not-killing-related laugh the red-head had ever heard from Shukaku.

The demon suddenly picked up again at the end of his shriek; his laughs still busted through as he spoke, **"FOOL! HuuuaaAAHH! What a fool! It's been so long, of course I wouldn't realize! But there is no mistaking it! NyyueehhHAAaaAAAHHH!"**

The jinjuriki suppressed his irritation because of his burning curiosity. _'What? Do you know something now?'_

"**Brat, I know **_**everything**_** now! And I can promise you, you will know**_** none **_**of it! HeheheeehHHH!"**

Gaara deeply scowled. He knew if that was what Shukaku decided, he would not be able to make him change his mind. Now he was the one left in the dark.

What a bastard.

Karasu's eyes began to look more dazed and distant as time passed, and his shoulders slumped. His back's tight connection to the wall loosened, and so he slid down the pale surface. When his knees finally buckled, he flopped down into a hunched-forward sitting position on the floor.

They waited for a short time, but the boy didn't move. Decidedly, he was now unconscious. Allowing civilian personnel to test this hypothesis was not a good idea, so Temari resolved to do it herself. She began to cautiously advance by putting herself at an angle—shoulder first—to be ready to defend.

Kankuro gave her a skeptical, questioning look, and so she paused to inform him. "I'm going to see if he's unconscious."

She just started forward again, when her brother's hand landed on her arm and held her firmly in place. He nodded his head back to the doctors, "You stay back by the doctors; I will go look at the kid. I can fight him a second time if I have to." His voice was stern, but it wasn't aggressive. A small smile crept onto the kunoichi's face. Her younger brother wasn't usually sentimental, but occasionally, he would drop his punk façade.

Purposely, she chose not to argue with him and stepped back to the on-looking faculty behind her. About half of the group had split off by now, leaving only five staff members—including the original three. The others left to give the status of the situation, or to help clean up the mess left by the patient. The five left, along with Temari, had their attention now focused on the scene in front of them. Kankuro followed in his sister's example, advancing slowly and defensively.

He closed the distance uneventfully; the hunched boy now in front of him had not moved a muscle. Kankuro started down at the Rain ninja, waiting for any movements. Still, nothing happened.

Kankuro cautiously leaned down to the ninja's level. He reached forward and quickly tapped Karasu's shoulder with the back of his hand, and sternly grunted, "Oi". He received no response. Again, he reached down–this time, he tugged once on the boy's shoulder. Karasu teetered sideways and began to slide along the wall. With a soft thump, his limp body flopped into a pile on the floor, and he was still again.

At this point, Kankuro considered picking up the dead weight in front of him, until the body suddenly stirred.

The ninja's hand twitched and small groan fell from his lips. His arms creaked slowly into motion and he lifted his torso off the floor. Kankuro immediately went on the defensive again and stepped back from the ninja—he was unsure whether this kid would try to attack him or not. Evidently, as a pair of foggy, cool blue eyes appeared, veiled by a cool demeanor, that would not be the case. The young ninja's confused, dazed gaze rested on Kankuro's face.

"Hey, kid, are you in there now? Can you hear me?"

Karasu's eyes strained to focus on the blurry purple face in front of him that was trying to speak to him. He thought he caught the voice asking if it was being heard. Karasu couldn't exactly grasp which direction was up or down at the moment, nor was any other sensation or perception in his brain registering with any more clarity than one's vision through frosted glass. He did hear _something_ coming from the purple face. That deserves a yes, right? His jaw was slack as he dumbly nodded to the question.

He could make out the figure coming closer to him when he suddenly felt as if the world was sloshing around. Thinking logically, he could guess that he was being picked up, but he could by no means make that assumption from what he was feeling; he felt like he was being tossed around by a churning rapid's current. Because of all of this disorienting movement, the first chance he had to grab onto a supporting shoulder he took gladly.

Kankuro had finally made the decision to pluck the patient off the ground. He lifted the boy's lithe body easily by the arm, and then tucked his other hand under the free space created between the Rain ninja and the floor. Kankuro grunted while he stood up with the added weight; the kid was as limp as a dead cat, and so gave no help in the task of his lifting.

Casually, he commented, "Geeze, you are a dead weight. It wouldn't kill you to stand your feet on the floor." Karasu made an attempt to do so, but his legs refused to move.

The older boy slung the half-conscious ninja's arm over his shoulder and held it in place with his right hand, and his other arm wrapped around the boy's waist to hold their sides together. The shorter boy's feet hovered just above the floor as Kankuro ferried him down the hallway. Temari met her brother halfway down the hall, and mirrored his pose on the other side of the Rain ninja to support him properly to be examined.

The doctor now stood in front of the three ninja and attempted to speak to the trouble patient. "Karasu-san, if you understand me, I'm just going to take a look at you." He wanted to give fair warning before he tried to touch the ninja.

The man's hand lifted Karasu's chin which was hanging near his chest and held his head up. He pulled a small flashlight from his pocket with his other hand and drew the beam of light quickly across his patient's half-lidded eyes. Then, he touched two fingers to the boy's neck and he stilled for a few moments. He nodded at his findings and let the boy's head droop back down.

"His heart rate is back to normal, and his eyes respond normally to light—I believe the drug he had the reaction to has worn off. We should take him back to his room." The doctor motioned to the hall that the group came from and started walking. So, the group began backtracking down the moderately trashed (they were still being cleaned) hallways that they had come through.

Karasu wanted to complain when the doctor touched him; odd, unfamiliar humans touching him still bothered him. He felt too weak to complain, though. His eyes drooped completely shut, and he allowed the two on either side of him carry him to whatever room they were headed to.

He gently churned through his mind's jumbled thoughts and memories to piece together what had happened. He knew he was in the hospital, and somehow he was not where he was supposed to be. He was being carried by Kankuro and Temari, but why were they here? And, Kankuro…wasn't he supposed to not like Kankuro? Why was that again? He thought harder. Oh, right. He got into a fight with him because he was being an asshole—that was why he was in the hospital, wasn't it?

He took in a breath through his nose, in preparation to sigh, but he faltered. What a disgusting smell—like rotting flesh. A smell he recognized. A smell he remembered. He remembered. Earlier—it was them again—that was what had happened to him, how he was here. The smell of death lingered in the air when a chill breeze ghosted across his back and feet.

At the feeling, his chest suddenly clenched in fear, and his heart-rate sky rocketed. He cracked open his eyes and feebly lifted his head as much as he could in a panic. He could see better than earlier, and so knew he was gaining some of his strength back.

His eyes soaked up the area in front of him, and saw nothing unusual. But the breeze came from behind him. He weakly turned his head and shot a glance over his shoulder. Still, there was nothing there.

He sighed softly in relief and his head hung again, his stirring going unnoticed by his carriers. Maybe he was mistaken about the smell and cold breeze. But it didn't look like there was any place a draft could be coming from, and he defiantly had goose bumps. And, though this was a hospital where such smells might be expected, the smell was not just that of death, it was of festering death.

He grumbled slightly, and gave up on thinking. He was too faint and weak to worry about the technicalities.

His eyes were just drifting shut again when a bitter cold breath caressed his face. He looked up suddenly, and his eyes were drawn to a dark, unused room coming up on his left. He stared almost involuntarily—the open doorway had a particularly cold draft coming out of it. Was this where the cold feeling was coming from? It didn't make much sense, as this door was ahead of him and he had been feeling the draft from his behind, but he wasn't logically thinking at the moment. His heavy eyes gazed into the room as the three passed it.

His eyes instantly flew open, and his arms jerked helplessly in his carrier's grips. As he pitifully gasped, the air he took in was now stingingly cold and reeking.

A disgusting creature stood midway in the room, grinning in its own grotesque manner. The room the thing resided in looked aged and freezing—the walls and floor was cracked, the solitary small round window was shattered, and a thin layer of frost was covering everything; everything except the blood which covered the room. Somehow, the blood still looked fresh and warm in that environment. It was streaming up the walls, against the laws of gravity, and dripping from the floor to the ceiling. A low, gurteling growling noise, mixed with the sound of human screams, and laced with a sound like radio static roared deafeningly between the boy's ears.

The siblings stopped and looked down in surprise at the disturbed boy—his eyes were wide and his pupils dilated as he looked to the left of the three. Kankuro instantly whipped around to look though the open doorway—somewhat foolishly expecting a threat—only to be met with a simple hospital room, as plain as all the others, with the lights off.

Kankuro looked back at the boy who Temari was now also staring at in confusion. The younger sibling quickly pulled on the boy's arm that was over his shoulder, and he sternly barked, "Oi! Don't go and lose your head again, kid!"

Karasu's icy-blue eyes ripped themselves from the scene when his arm was roughly wrenched. He jumped in surprise, but his attention turned to Kankuro for only a moment before it almost immediately redirected to the room. In that short flash, everything was gone.

He gaped for a long moment at the empty, normal room, before he dumbly closed his mouth. The rush of adrenaline from his fear jolted his body into an over-aware panic. He still felt weak and faint, but his senses had cleared enough to function. His jittering frame caused his exhaled breath—his attempt to calm down—to tremble pitifully.

After his breath, he spoke softly and meekly to the ninja's at his sides, "I think I can walk." He adjusted his feet under him to show he was ready to be put onto the floor. The siblings complied after a moment of hesitation, and released his arms so he sunk down onto his feet. He shot a final, nervous, sidelong glance into the dark room, but it still appeared normal. The smells, sounds, and cold feeling from earlier had all vanished the moment he looked away. He looked up at the sound of Kankuro's voice.

"Do you know what you did?" The question had been burning in his mind since the ninja had regained consciousness.

The corners of Karasu's mouth drew out as he swallowed. His response sounded unsure—he knew what he had dreamt, but not what his physical body did. "No, did I do something bad?"

Neither of the siblings responded to the question. Karasu paused for a long moment and his brow furrowed in worry. He lowered his head and spoke softly, "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

Temari put her hands on her hips. _'This brat is sure suspicious. If he is trying not to bring attention to himself, he is doing an awful job.'_

She spoke up in place of her brother, "Well, you looked like you had gone crazy and ran around the hospital. You didn't hurt anybody, but you broke some things that were in the hallways."

Karasu didn't respond, but merely stared at the floor and nodded before he attempted to walk forward. He was still wobbly on his feet, but he managed to walk with a decent amount of grace. He stumbled only a couple of times—and by the grace of something divine—he didn't fall on his face. His feet dragged on the floor occasionally, and he looked haggard as if he may not have slept much recently, but otherwise, a stranger couldn't tell of his recent ordeals.

The siblings took the lead to guide Karasu back to his room, Temari in front and Kankuro behind. The hairs on Karasu's body stood up in fear every time they would pass an open doorway. He used all of the self-control he could muster to plaster his eyes ahead of him, but he could still see dark shadows in his peripheral vision darting across the floor inside the rooms. He tried to show no physical signs that these images were still plaguing him, but the hard line of his shoulders made it obvious there was something wrong. He could sense that the other two ninja by him were taking notice.

He was fully aware of what was happening to him, now that he was completely conscious. It was not the first time these images had projected themselves into real life, and the dreams were not new either. He understood that they were hallucinations, but he still couldn't control his fear. His fear of the real thing—his experiences with the monsters in the helplessness of his mind and dreams—was simply too strong. As soon as he could be alone, he seriously needed to make some adjustments on his metal locks and doors. That thing was gaining too much freedom.

On the way back through the hallways he couldn't help but noticed the leftovers of destruction and disarray. There were some stray pieces of glass and chemicals being cleaned, and medical machinery was sitting on the floor out of place. Most of the staff was giving him incriminating glances as they hurried about; some were reopening doors or windows that had been locked down, doing some other needed task, or speaking amongst each other.

Karasu carefully avoided sharing glances with any of the unfriendly staff; he achieved this most easily by staring at the ground. The last thing he needed was the staff thinking worse of him than they already must if they though he looked at them wrong. His stomach squirmed in shame when he heard the five personnel behind him speaking about him in hushed breaths. He purposely shut out the sounds of their whispering.

Karasu lifted his gaze from the floor when Temari slowed to a stop. She was standing in front of room 42—Karasu assumed this was his room—and had turned around to look at him; apparently inviting him to go in first. The Rain ninja nodded thanks at the polite gesture and walked to the doorway.

The door was already a fourth opened, probably because no one had cared to close it completely after he surely burst from the room in his stupor. He pushed the door open—completely inconsiderate of the fact he knew he was still fighting hallucinations. Without a thought, he stepped forward.

His foot stopped mid-air above a massive, yawning, black hole where the floor should have been. His eyes froze wide open and gained that light-emanating quality that they do in dark environments when he is feeling a rich emotion. They cast a silvery-blue hue onto his face against the backdrop of pitch black as he gazed, horrified and frozen, into the pit. A reeking wind that chilled him instantly to the bone buffeted upwards from the pit, where the sounds and smells of inescapable and omniscient death emanated. Screams of men, women, and children all mingled in the darkness, mocking him—laughing at him—torturing him.

A pair of white circles swelled in the dark, and shot a cool, bright glow like headlights at his face from below. He tried to turn away, or run, but his hands were almost glued to the molding of the doorway, and his muscles felt frozen like rocks. His gut wrenched as a white mouth opened, beckoning him to fall in and be swallowed. A low and menacing timbre filled the air as the glowing mouth grinned and laughed—it muffled the sounds of confused shouting behind him.

Something wrenched his hands away from the doorframe, causing him to stumble backwards and fall. The sounds and world around him came rushing back when he hit the floor. His hand gripped his viciously throbbing forehead and his eyes squeezed shut as a result of the sudden change in atmosphere.

He was looking up at Temari now, who had grabbed his face to force him make eye contact. "Hey! Are you listening? Are you okay? What happened?"

The boy at Temari's feet brushed off her hand and squeezed the bridge of his nose roughly. He was still panting when he warily responded, "Nh—I-I'm fine..."

He pushed down on his knee, wavering as he stood, and glanced nervously into the room. He held up his hand when Kankuro moved closer to try to steady him; he used the wall behind him as support.

Temari was thoroughly confused. What was this kid trying to pull?—if he seriously was an assassin or up to something, she had no clue how any of his actions were hinting to his true purpose. At first, she thought he had stopped because he saw Gaara in the room—she had forgotten they left her little brother in there, otherwise she wouldn't have let the Rain kid enter first—but that didn't seem to be the case. He had been staring down at the ground rather than at her youngest brother.

Kankuro stepped into the room and jumped a couple of times on the floor, trying to convince the Rain ninja it wasn't going to fall out or something. This action received an embarrassed look from the other boy, who scratched the back of his head.

Karasu absently responded, "Thanks…" then trailed off as he looked nervously at the floor of the room that the other ninja was standing on. He cautiously put his foot into the room, and sighed in relief when he didn't spiral into more hallucinations.

He continued into the room more confidently and Kankuro showed him to his bed. Temari followed the two boys into the room and stopped next to the dividing curtain in the center of the room. Her eyes scanned the room for Gaara, but suddenly, she realized he seemed to be missing. Her stomach dropped a little in anxiousness. Did he run off? He can be so unpredictable sometimes that he could be doing anything. She called aloud into the room, "Gaara? Where are you?"

Karasu had just sat down at the edge of the bed when he heard Temari call. He peered around Kankuro to look at the kunoichi, and Kankuro turned his head.

'_Oh Kami, Gaara is here too? That's just another thing to add to my headache.'_ Karasu tried not to groan out loud.

Kankuro began to look around the room, suddenly seeming as worried as his sister. "Temari, where did he go?"

"Tch, like I know! I wouldn't be calling for him if I did."

The doctor and nurses who were beginning to enter the room promptly stepped back out of the doorway at mention of the cynical red-headed murderer they knew as Gaara. The knowledge that Gaara was lurking around somewhere made the whole group of personnel look scared shitless. The doctor adjusted his glasses and stuttered out, "A-Ah, well, I-I will be back momentarily—I need to run some tests." He turned on his heels and walked away at a brisk pace. The four left over nurses each bowed, and then quickly towed behind their superior without a word.

Kankuro let out a stressed sigh, and sat down in the same visiting chair that he had been approximately a half hour ago.

Temari placed her hands on her hips and shook her head at the staff's fear. "I will go look around fo-"

She stopped mid sentence when she heard the sound of sand whirling behind her—she knew that to be her youngest brother's calling card.

"I'm here." The red-head had materialized behind his sister and stood with his arms crossed. Slowly, he stepped from Temari's shadow into view.

His cold eyes instantly fell on Karasu, as if he just noticed that the Rain ninja was there. Said ninja looked up at the intimidating gaze with a—well…an _interesting_ face. His head shrunk down closer to his shoulders, and he managed to look apprehensive, timid, embarrassed, and in awe—all balled up into one expression. Normally, he took Gaara's attitude with cocky humor, but right now he was too genuinely nerve racked to do so.

Karasu wasn't the only one making an unusual face, though. The moment he laid eyes on the other boy, Gaara's jaw tightened, and his mind seemed to be elsewhere. Indeed, he was more concentrated on the now-too-familiar burning sensation in his chest that arose whenever he was in the ninja's presence, than the world around him. He stared directly at Karasu for an uncomfortable set of seconds, but then averted his gaze and continued on his path to the corner of the room.

Temari decided now was not the time for questions about her youngest brother and this Rain ninja's bizarre relationship. The same went for questioning where her brother had been up until now. The kunoichi stalked over to the seat next to Kankuro and sat down across from Karasu—she had more pressing questions on her mind.

She snapped her fingers to get the dazed ninja's attention and announced, "Hey, I have some things to ask you."

Karasu jumped slightly at the snap and looked up. He seemed to pale a little at Temari's words, and he rubbed the side of his neck and looked down. He was hoping that he wouldn't be put on the spot, but luck has not been on his side lately. He swallowed harshly when Temari stared him in the eyes as she awaited his response.

"E-eh—I—er, u-uh—" He forced himself to clamp his jaws shut; he was making an ass out of himself. He sighed and then started again after a pause. His voice mellowed and he sounded despondent when he simply answered, "…Yes?"

Temari didn't take the time to be concerned about the nature of the boy's response. "Well," she began, "What was all of this about? We have gathered that you hallucinated, but what were you hallucinating? And why did you hallucinate? Also, the nurse made it very apparent that you should be dead right now. How could you have been badly injured, been drained of chakra, and then live?"

'_Frankly, I am not sure I trust you or want you in this village._' She wanted to add, but decided that would be a comment best left for later if need be. She would listen to his explanation first.

Karasu sighed, and his icy blue eyes swiftly repositioned to the ground. Per his usual practice, he would have to mix fact with fiction to make the most believable story to answer these questions. He was sick of lying, but at this point he had no other choice—he could not tell the whole truth and blatantly give away his identity.

His elbows rested on each of his knees and he slumped forward in thought. Well, he could probably explain everything just by telling—he cringed a little. …By telling _that _incident. A slight ache began to arise in his chest as he recalled the events that were so long ago—the very beginning.

Gaara's eyes shifted to the back of the Rain ninja's head and a glare appeared on his face. He hated to think that some part of him was actually _curious_ to hear this boy's response. What w_as _he? Why did he act the way he did—so unafraid? How did he have these strange powers to make him feel these feelings? Maybe this would help him understand the constant apprehension he felt. Now, he knew Shukaku would be no help. He would have to figure this kid out on his own.

When Karasu looked up again from his thoughts, he saw Temari staring at him sternly and expectantly. He started to feel somewhat sick to his stomach under the pressure. He shook his head quickly and swallowed to collect himself. Now was as good as any time—he might as well just start talking.

"…Well, a long time ago when I was young, I lived by myself with an older friend of mine. I knew him as far back as I could remember—I still don't remember having any family. He always was the one who took care of me. We lived together outside of a small village in a cave, and we kept to ourselves. The villagers knew about us, but they were afraid of us. They thought we were monsters. Any time something bad would happen in the village—the crops failing to grow, a frost, a death, a fire—anything—they would blame us, the 'monsters'. At that age, I didn't understand why I was so hated by these people, or why they called me names. My friend would protect me, though…from the way they looked at us and treated us."

The siblings seemed slightly off-put—neither of them were expecting a personal story to go with answering these questions. He continued before either ninja could make a comment.

"Often times they would try to punish us, or attack whenever they saw us for the deeds they thought we were committing. They didn't know exactly where we lived, they just knew we lived on the mountain in the woods, so they couldn't attack us unless we were out and about the forest we shared. They would try to follow us whenever we were spotted, but for a while we managed to stay hidden."

He released a small breath and adjusted his legs nervously. He had never told the story in detail before, so now, it was getting difficult to talk about. He forced himself to continue, "…One evening, there was a very bad storm. It brought no rain for their crops—it only brought lightning. It hadn't rained in weeks, and so everything was dry. Lightning struck, and there was a terrible fire in the village. Many, many people died, and most of the dry village crops were destroyed. And they blamed us for it. …That night they came for us—we were careless, and so they were able to find our hiding place. They cornered my friend at one side of our cave, and me at the other. I was barely able to get outside without being caught, but it didn't get any better out there. I knew the woods well compared to the villagers, but there was too many of them in the forest—they had all been waiting in case one of us escaped. They were able to chase me down and catch me."

His voice wavered slightly now as he spoke, and he stared at the floor as he played through the whole scene like a movie. "I will never forget what they did to me. I saw things that one never should—felt things that one never should. They riddled my body with burns from the torches that they carried. To begin with, they would hold the flame of a torch flush against my skin until it burnt and charred, but soon that petty torture didn't satisfy them. They wanted me dead, and they wanted me to suffer slowly as I died. Their solution was to cut open my torso from my chest to my stomach. I remember seeing organs—as disturbing as that was, that was the point where I stopped struggling and began to plead for my life. I screamed and begged, but I might as well have been a mute; they didn't even acknowledge my voice. One man opened the gash with his hands, and another held his torch up to the interior of my body. Intestines and such don't have as many nerves as one's exterior, so I didn't suffer most from pain—I think the worst part was the smell of my own flesh and blood cooking."

The siblings now stared in unbelieving, dumb awe at the boy in front of them. Surely, it was a lie. He should be dead if this were true. …But then again, the look in Karasu's eyes—they icy blue orbs stared unfocused at the floor, and held such a true pain—they didn't know what to believe.

"…That night, those villagers were insane. I think the full moon had something to do with it—some of those men truly enjoyed my suffering. Eventually, they slit my throat and then they left me on the forest floor to die. Ironically though, the fact that they held a flame to most of my wounds cauterized my bleeding flesh, and so kept me from bleeding to death. The only heavily bleeding wound I now suffered was my slashed throat, but the cut was so clean that by not moving, it would only leak blood. I had lain that way for two days before I passed out from exhaustion and dehydration. I wanted to simply fall asleep and finally let go of that hell. But, here is what is relevant to you both."

The room seemed to tense. Gaara's eyes narrowed, and he listened closely. Some part of his intuition was telling him this was the important part. Everything else was surely a lie, but this part of the explanation might give him away—somehow, it might explain his power—reveal his _trick._

"…I have a gift—that at this moment was my curse. When I fell asleep, my body began to heal itself, and I was kept alive. I didn't know anything of chakra at the time—I didn't even know healing jutsu existed—but my body used my chakra to heal against my own will. By the time I woke again, the wounds on my throat and torso had sealed shut enough to allow me to move. I began to travel back towards my cave; that was where I last knew my friend to be. Unfortunately, I couldn't handle the pain of moving around with wounds severe as mine without crying; I was so young then. This was how I discovered the extent of my healing abilities at that age—traveling, compounded with the exertion of crying, caused both my neck and torso to bleed again. I only made it half way home before I collapsed next to a stream. I drank water and spent the night there—and by morning, after sleeping, I was capable enough to make it the rest of the way back."

Karasu exhaled softly and sat up out of his slouched position. His gaze swept across the two ninja in front of him. Temari in particular appeared to be digesting everything he had said with scrutiny. Thankfully for him, the hard parts of this tale were behind him, and the aching in his chest began to ease—now came the bulk of the lying. In reality, that day set the seed for the destructive trend of next few thousand years of his life, but he obviously couldn't add that fact.

He continued after a moment had passed, "Four days had passed when I finally arrived. My friend was long dead. He wasn't gifted the same way I was, so he did not survive his similarly brutal treatment. I was heartbroken because he was my sole companion for so long—he was the only one I interacted with. I never knew my parents, or really anyone else for that matter, like I already said. In fear, I only stayed as long in my home as I had to—until I was strong enough to leave. In my travels afterward, I was wary of people, but I soon learned how to pick apart my friends from my enemies. I was rendered mute because of the damage to my throat, and sickly due to the damage to my organs, until an old woman taught me about healing ninjutsu. I was an instant genius, and I was able to heal my scars and the damages that my unconscious body couldn't."

The red-head turned his head back to the wall and frowned. That did not give him any answers. He could tell some of that last part—the important part—was a lie. It was said with more calm, he held less pain in his eyes. He would question Shukaku about what that boy said later.

"…The scars I couldn't heal were the ones in my mind and heart. That day haunts me in my dreams, and in any other place it can. That's what I hallucinated. And, the reason I didn't die from my injuries and low chakra was because of my ability. That's also why I healed so fast." Karasu ran his fingers through his slate-colored hair as he attempted to recollect himself after releasing all of this personal information to this pair of humans. Pair, because he assumed that Gaara had not cared to listen. He was wrong, of course, but he did not know that.

Temari leaned back into her chair with a loud sigh; Kankuro had a similar reaction. Neither of them were exactly sure what to do with the information they had just learned. Was this kid lying? Certainly, he wouldn't make up such an extravagant lie—what purpose would he have? Why not choose something simple and believable? But then again, if he indeed was a high-class assassin, the hallucinating, story, and even this kid's personality could be all fake—a mind game to lull them into a sense of security or familiarity. Still, he seemed so genuine…

Temari looked up at the sound of Karasu's voice. "It would be great if you both could just…not tell anyone what I told you. All I want is to stay here—away from my village, and everything that happened to me."

Kankuro suddenly seemed to perk up. _'Here is my chance!'_ He leaned forward with a rather bright look for his usual features. "If you do a favor for me, then we won't say a word." Temari glared at her brother—personally, she was still unsure if she would keep quiet. He needed to learn to speak for himself.

Karasu looked a little surprised—he had not expected such eagerness from the purple-faced teen. "What favor do you want?"

"Come with us to the Kazekage tower, and help get me out of trouble for beating you up."

The boy's eyebrows rose and a small smile graced his lips. The humor in that raised his spirits a little. "Ne, I don't see why not. How about…I'll say you didn't beat me up as bad as it seemed, and…that I hit you first because you were questioning me like I was an assassin, or something? That would give you a good reason to pick a fight, a good reason for my hitting you, and should keep us both out of trouble. I'll do this only so long as you promise not to say anything."

Kankuro seemed to almost jump out of his skin with excitement and relief. He didn't even have to apologize! "Great. Let's pick up your stuff from the front desk, an—"

_Shhh—Kk._

Omehgerrhhd chapter done. I'm really happy with my editing, this could have come out waaayyy crappy. C: But it didn't. In my opinion.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy! I got a nice review, which was encouraging, so I hope people who were excited for the next chapter like it! Once again, I'm open to constructive criticism as always!

If you are ever wondering about a next update, just look on my profile in my updates section—I say things about what is going on there.


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